If Tiger’s timed it right, let the Hoylake party begin!
WHEN Canada’s Graham DeLaet returned to tour life three months after surgery for a herniated disc, he lasted two tournaments and wasn’t seen again until the following year.
So the understandable exuberance that greeted the stunning announcement last Friday of Tiger Woods’s return from a similar operation, at his own tournament in Washington this week, needs to be tempered with a degree of caution.
Yes, it all looks promising for the 38-year- old to be at The Open at Hoylake next month, where he won in such emotional circumstances in 2006, his first victory following the death of father Earl. But, as DeLaet discovered, there’s a world of difference between the driving range and playing competitively.
Taking soundings at the US Open two weeks ago f rom American reporters who spend their lives writing about Woods, the most optimistic projection for his return was the Bridgestone Invitational, staged in August before the season’s final major, the USPGA Championship.
One close to Woods’ caddie, Joey LaCava, thought we wouldn’t see him again until December.
Which just goes to show that, five years after hydrant-gate, even a backstage pass at the Woods travelling circus still offers little insight into what really goes on in the life of the headline act.
Less than a month ago Woods said the recovery process following surgery in March was so slow he wasn’t able to throw a ball with his kids yet. Now he’s teeing it up on the PGA Tour. Is he rushing his return in the hope the entire summer will not prove a washout? He certainly had good cause to compete at the Quicken Loans National tournament this week, since the sponsor is one of the principal benefactors of the Tiger Woods Foundation.
Woods will give a press conference today in which he will explain his astonishing recovery. And then it will be fingers crossed for when he goes out to play.
Yes, The Open would go on merrily without him at Royal Liverpool. But what a huge shot in the arm it would be to see him back at the venue where, in 2006, he gave perhaps the most brilliant example of course management we have seen in recent times.