Tuesday afternoon, news surfaced that professional golfer Tiger Woods was involved in a single-car rollover crash. He was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and underwent surgery. The incident occurred weeks after Woods had surgery on his back.
Weeks before the car crash, Woods revealed that he had undergone surgery once again. The procedure was to remove a pressurized disc fragment that was pinching a nerve. This operation was the fifth for the 45-year-old golfer. It was also the first since spinal fusion surgery in April 2017. Woods previously underwent microdiscectomy surgery three times in 2014-15
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Tournament host @TigerWoods gives an update on his health and his plans for the near future. pic.twitter.com/6TY3cXQIqK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 21, 2021
The expectation at the time was that Woods would miss the Farmers Open and the Genesis Invitational but would return later in the season. There was even hope that he would return in time for the 2021 Masters. However, Woods cast doubts during a Sunday discussion with Jim Nantz.
“I’m feeling fine. I’m feeling fine,” Woods told Nantz during the Genesis Invitational. “I’m a little bit stiff. I have one more MRI scheduled. … Still in the gym, still doing the mundane stuff that you have to do for rehab. The little things. This morning, I started gravitating toward something a little more.”
With the announcement that he had one more MRI scheduled, Woods immediately created questions about his future in golf. Nantz specifically asked if the veteran golfer would be available to compete in the 2021 Masters in early April.
“God, I hope so,” Woods said. “I’ve got to get there first. A lot of it’s based on my surgeons, my doctors, my therapists, and making sure that I do it correctly. This is the only back I got, so I don’t have much more wiggle room left here.” He didn’t provide a timeline for when he would return to the golf course.
Woods has struggled with back issues for many years. He only competed in one PGA Tour event — the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open — between August 2015 and December 2017. There were questions about whether Woods would ever compete again, but spinal fusion surgery provided an avenue for him to work his way back.
He competed in 18 events during the 2018 season and then capped off the year with a victory at the Tour Championship. Woods then returned to dominance during the 2019 Masters, winning his fifth title at Augusta National and donning the green jacket once again.
