Two months after nearly winning the PNC Championship with his son, Tiger Woods still can’t put a date on the calendar for his return to the PGA Tour . His game was better than many expected after his terrible car accident a year ago, but in yesterday’s press conference he stated that any progress made since December has not been significant enough to predict a return to the game. competition.
“I wish I could tell you when I’m going to play again,” Tiger Woods said Wednesday from The Riviera Country Club , where he is hosting the Genesis Invitational . “I want to know, but I don’t know. My activity in golf has been very limited. I can chip and putt very well, and hit the short irons very well, but I haven’t practiced the long game seriously. I keep working”.
“I’m still working on the walking thing. My foot got a little damaged about a year ago, so the walking part is something I’m still working on, strength and development wise. Take your time”.
Woods suffered multiple fractures in his right leg and broke his ankle last February, in Los Angeles, precisely in the days after the Genesis Invitational 2021 when driving his vehicle he skipped a median and overturned in a ditch. There were serious concerns at the time that the 82-time Tour winner could lose a leg.
“To be able to have my right leg still here, it’s great ,” continues Tiger Woods , who turned 46 in December. “I still have a lot of issues with her, but she is mine and I am very grateful for that.”
“What’s frustrating is that it’s not on my schedule. I want to be in a certain place, but I’m not. I just have to keep working. I am improving, yes, but not at the speed and rhythm that I would like. The age factor is also added. You just don’t heal as fast, which is frustrating.”
His play at the PNC fueled hopes of his return at a Major, perhaps even the April Masters. But Woods pointed out that in the first post-accident tournament he had the advantage of traveling in a buggy, on his way to second place with Charlie, behind John Daly and his son, John II.
Woods was also recovering from a fifth back surgery before the accident. The combination of ailments makes hitting longer shots more difficult.
“I have seen progress. I’m much stronger than I was then, I can hit more shots… I can play guerrilla golf on the weekends, that’s easy. But being able to be in a Tour tournament and play six rounds of golf, with a practice round, the pro-am, and four days of competition, is the cumulative effect that I still can’t do. I’m still working to get to that point, ” Tiger Woods said .
Woods remains committed to returning at some point. He is just one more Tour victory away from taking sole possession of the PGA Tour winning record, which he currently shares with Sam Snead .