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      Justin Thomas on Woods's Accident: ‘I’m Sick to my Stomach'

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyTiger Woods Live Updates and Video: Golfer Hospitalized After Car Crash‘I’m sick to my stomach,’ Woods’s friend Justin Thomas said.Feb. 23, 2021, 4:22 p.m. ETFeb. 23, 2021, 4:22 p.m. ETJustin Thomas, left, and Tiger Woods during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament last year.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressJustin Thomas, a trusted confidant of Tiger Woods who frequently joins Woods for pretournament practice rounds, appeared stunned by the news of Woods’s accident on Tuesday.“I’m sick to my stomach,” Thomas said as he prepared for the Workday Championship, a PGA Tour event in Central Florida set to begin Thursday. “It hurts to see one of your closest friends get in an accident.”Thomas said he had heard about Woods’s crash only minutes earlier.”I’m sick to my stomach.” Justin Thomas reacts to the news of Tiger Woods being injured after a single-car crash. pic.twitter.com/RMXKLfSi9N— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 23, 2021
      “Man, I just hope he’s all right,” he said. “I’m just worried for his kids, I’m sure they’re struggling.”Thomas and his father, Mike, were paired with Woods and his son, Charlie, during the PNC Championship, a father and son tournament in December. Woods also has a daughter, Sam.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      In Naming a New Chief Executive, the U.S.G.A. Looks to the Women’s Game

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIn Naming a New Chief Executive, the U.S.G.A. Looks to the Women’s GameWith the L.P.G.A., Mike Whan grew women’s golf. Now he’ll try to solve some of the sport’s most contentious debates: outrageous distances off the tee and a return to more traditional sites.Mike Whan with the L.P.G.A. in 2015. He will take over the U.S.G.A. sometime this summer.Credit…Chris O’Meara/Associated PressFeb. 17, 2021, 11:02 a.m. ETIn an imaginative decision for one of the most resolutely traditional organizations in American sports, the United States Golf Association announced Wednesday that its new chief executive would be Mike Whan, who has spent the last 11 years as the resourceful commissioner of the L.P.G.A. Tour.Whan, 56, will replace Mike Davis, the top executive at the U.S.G.A., which conducts the United States Open and 13 other national championships. Five months ago, Davis, a 30-year U.S.G.A. employee, revealed that 2021 would be his last year with the organization. In January, in a surprise, Whan announced his intention to leave the L.P.G.A.In an interview Tuesday, Whan said he called Davis before accepting the U.S.G.A.’s offer.“I said, you know me and you know the job, is this a bad idea?” Whan recalled. “Mike said, ‘Stop talking, you need to get into this job.’”Whan added: “I can stay in the game I love. I can have a seat that can make a real difference.”Stu Francis, the U.S.G.A. president, said Tuesday that he had been thinking about Whan as a possible Davis successor since Whan made a presentation to the association’s executive committee four years ago. Noting that the U.S.G.A., a nonprofit with annual revenues of roughly $225 million, invests in myriad golf initiatives and helps writes golf’s rule book, Francis called running the U.S.G.A. “a multifaceted job.” Of Whan, Francis added: “He has all the skill sets and has demonstrated those skill sets.”Whan, who will assume his U.S.G.A. duties at an unspecified date this summer, took over a struggling L.P.G.A. in 2010 and guided it through financial challenges, eventually expanded the tour from 24 events to 34 and nearly doubled the prize money. During the pandemic, when many tournaments were not held, Whan was able to preserve event sponsors, and the purses for the 18 tournaments the L.P.G.A. did host were not reduced.As L.P.G.A. commissioner, Whan has spent years in regular contact with leaders of golf’s governing bodies, including the U.S.G.A., the PGA Tour and the R&A, the organization that conducts the British Open.But at least in America, Whan will soon be the point man for a variety of issues facing golf, the thorniest of which is whether the sport’s leaders should enact new rules to inhibit the prodigious distances off the tee that can be achieved by technologically advanced golf balls and clubs. A recent report sponsored by the U.S.G.A. and the R&A, a co-partner overseeing the rule book, hinted at potential changes in equipment restrictions.Asked about the report on Tuesday, Whan said: “There’s little argument that we’ve known distance is a problem for a long time.” He added, “I think change is coming and needs to — how grand that change is has yet to be determined.”But Whan, who worked for Wilson Sporting Goods and TaylorMade Golf before joining the L.P.G.A., said there would still be room for innovation in the vast golf equipment market.“I think all the people that hear about change think, ‘Oh, no, it’s over, they’re going to put a governor on and everybody’s going to have all the same distance,’” he said. “Nobody has any interest in doing that to either the game or the people that make the game exciting.”Whan will also be central to ascertaining which courses will be selected as U.S.G.A. championship sites, particularly when it comes to the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open. Some of the most controversial decisions in Davis’s tenure stemmed from a desire to branch out from an established, if unofficial, rotation of traditional sites for the association’s premier events. That led to the U.S. Open’s being played in largely untested venues like Chambers Bay in Washington State and Erin Hills in Wisconsin with, at best, mixed results.Lately, the U.S.G.A. has signaled its inclination to return to golf courses with a history of hosting the national golf championship, something endorsed by Francis and Whan.“You’re going to see much more of a locking in on traditional sites,” Francis said.Whan, who will be just the U.S.G.A.’s eighth chief executive, said players wanted the same thing. Cognizant that this year’s U.S. Women’s Open will be contested at the Olympic Club in San Francisco for the first time (it has hosted the U.S. Open five times), Whan said, “I can promise you right now there are players on the L.P.G.A. dreaming of Olympic.”Davis, who is leaving the U.S.G.A. to pursue his interest in golf course design, endorsed Whan’s selection.“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mike Whan for many years, and I view him as a trusted, strategic leader who has a proven track record of building collaborative partnerships,” Davis said in a statement. “I know the U.S.G.A. will be in great hands, and I look forward to partnering with Mike to ensure a smooth and successful transition.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      P.G.A. Championship Lands in Oklahoma After Leaving Trump Property

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Capitol Riot FalloutVisual TimelineInside the SiegeNotable ArrestsCapitol Police in CrisisThe Global Far RightAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAfter Leaving Trump Property, P.G.A. Championship Lands in OklahomaThe major had been set to be played at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, N.J. in 2022, until the P.G.A. of America pulled out, saying that holding it there would be “detrimental” to its brand.The P.G.A. of America, which conducts the tournament, said Monday that it had awarded its 2022 championship to the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.Credit…Rob Carr/Associated PressJan. 25, 2021Updated 9:36 p.m. ETThe 2022 P.G.A. Championship, which was withdrawn from Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., days after a mob incited by the former president stormed the Capitol in a riot that resulted in the deaths of five people, has been awarded to the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.The P.G.A. of America, which conducts the tournament, one of the four major men’s golf championships worldwide, announced the new site for the event Monday in a brief statement. The tournament will be played next year from May 19 to 22.For many years, Donald Trump had publicly lobbied each of golf’s governing bodies to bestow one of the sport’s featured championships to one of his golf courses. The Bedminster club hosted the 2017 United States Women’s Open, and his club in Virginia was the site of the 2017 Senior P.G.A. Championship.The P.G.A. of America chose Trump Bedminster to host the 2022 championship in 2014, before Trump was a candidate for president. But on Jan. 10, the organization’s president, Jim Richerson, said in a video statement: “It has become clear that conducting the P.G.A. Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the P.G.A. of America brand, and would put at risk the P.G.A.’s ability to deliver our many programs, and sustain the longevity of our mission.”The next day, the chief executive of the R&A, the organization that conducts the British Open, said its flagship event would not return to Trump Turnberry, a golf course in Scotland owned by Trump, for “the foreseeable future.” Turnberry, purchased by Trump seven years ago, has hosted the British Open, the oldest of golf’s four men’s majors, four times, most recently in 2009. It previously hosted the Women’s Open in 2015.Robert Wood Johnson IV, the American ambassador to Britain during the Trump administration, told multiple colleagues in February 2018 that he had been asked to see if the British government could help Turnberry host the British Open again, according to three people with knowledge of the episode. The British government said Johnson made no request regarding the British Open and Trump denied asking Johnson to press such a move.While the resort was not scheduled to be the site of this year’s event, it was in consideration for the 2023 British Open.“We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances,” Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, said.Southern Hills has been the setting for four previous P.G.A. Championships, the last in 2007 when Tiger Woods won the tournament. The course also hosted three U.S. Opens from 1958 to 2001. Moving the P.G.A. Championship to Oklahoma also locates a men’s major in a noncoastal setting. This year’s U.S. Open will be contested near San Diego while the 2021 P.G.A. Championship will be held on Kiawah Island along the South Carolina shoreline.“Excited to return to SHCC for the fifth time,” the P.G.A. of America wrote on its website Monday. “The course offers a tough-but-fair test for the strongest field in golf.”Southern Hills was designed in 1936 but underwent an $11 million restoration led by the noted golf-course architect Gil Hanse two years ago.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Paige Spiranac questions whether Conor McGregor is fighting Jake Paul next after YouTuber mocks UFC rival after defeat

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      GOLFER Paige Spiranac questioned whether Conor McGregor will fight Jake Paul next after the YouTuber mocked the UFC star.
      Paul has been tirelessly chasing a boxing match with McGregor and even claimed to have a $50million offer waiting.

      Conor McGregor lost to Dustin Poirier in an Abu Dhabi shockerCredit: Getty Images – Getty

      Paige Spiranac questioned whether Conor McGregor will fight Jake Paul nextCredit: Instagram @_paige.renee

      So is Conor Mcgregor fighting Jake Paul next?
      — Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) January 24, 2021

      But after the Irishman was dramatically knocked out by Dustin Poirier at UFC 257, the tables appeared to have turned.
      Paul, 24, brutally blasted McGregor, 32, and retracted his offer, instead changing it to just $10,000 in cash.
      It led to Spiranac, 27, tweeting: “So is Conor Mcgregor fighting Jake Paul next?”
      Floyd Mayweather, 43, was also quick to mock McGregor, who lost to the boxing legend in 2017.

      THE BEST MCGREGOR VS POIRIER REACTION

      The former two-weight UFC star also sees his proposed talks to fight Manny Pacquiao take a massive hit.
      It has not stopped Paul continuing to pursue a fight with McGregor, only strengthened by his reaction video.
      He said: “Conor, ay, ay, Conor – I got $10,000 for you cash, cash baby.
      “You had $50million!”

      FANCY A PUNT? TODAY’S BEST ODDS BOOSTS FROM THE UK’S LEADING BOOKIES

      Jake Paul has been tirelessly chasing a boxing match with McGregor

      Conor McGregor was knocked out by Dustin Poirier Credit: Sportsfile
      McGregor, who is always confronted with what his next move will be, admitted he does not know what his immediate fighting future holds.
      He said at the UFC 257 post-fight press conference: “It’s heartbreaking, it’s hard to take. The highest highs and the lowest lows in this game
      “My leg is completely dead, and even though I felt like I was checking them [Poirier’s leg kicks] it was just sinking into the muscle at the front of my leg.
      “Dustin fought a hell of a fight. I thought I was better than him in the clinch, but too little too late.

      “My leg was compromised and I didn’t adjust and that’s it, fair play to Dustin.
      “I’m very happen for him and very happy I got to come back and compete in my 11th UFC main event.
      “I don’t know where I’m at the minute to be honest.” More

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      For Elite Golfers, Money Talks

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesU.S. Travel BanVaccine InformationTimelineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFor Elite Golfers, Money TalksSponsors have long paid players to compete in tournaments, but that money has become more important to get players to travel during the pandemic.High-profile players like Rory McIlroy, seen putting during round two of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in 2018, bring in fans and make sponsors happy, so their presence is important.Credit…Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesJan. 20, 2021, 5:02 a.m. ETCraig Spence has no doubt that the shot he hit into the 18th green in the final round of the Australian Masters in 1999 was what granted him entry into the lucrative world of international golf, with its larger purses and equally attractive appearance fees.That shot set Spence up for a putt to beat Greg Norman, who at that point had twice won the British Open, and Spence did it in their home country at its most important tournament.“I hit the perfect shot, four feet behind the hole,” he said.When he made the putt, for a birdie and the win, invitations to play on the Asian and Japan tours, the PGA Tour and the European Tour came pouring in.Those were great, but it was the appearance fees from sponsors for top international players and up-and-coming ones like him that made a few of the long trips easier to make. Those fees eased the pressure on Spence to cover the costs of bringing his caddie, coach and family members to tournaments.“Now you’re teeing it up and playing for free,” said Spence, who now teaches golf in Western Australia. “You’re not going to lose anything if you don’t play well.”In 1999 Craig Spence won the  Australian Masters and moved into the echelon of elite golfers offered appearance fees.Credit…Jack Atley/Getty ImagesPaying players to fly to a professional golf tournament might seem unnecessary. But it’s an old practice used even in events where the winner receives millions of dollars and where an also-ran can make tens of thousands.And coming out of 2020, when professional golf events after March were largely closed to fans because of the pandemic, those fees have become more important this year and are an integral part of a tournament’s marketing budget.Without marquee players, fewer fans will watch at home, further worsening the return for sponsors. As one agent pointed out, if viewership numbers were down, sponsors would be even more concerned with their marketing spending than they were now.“Appearance fees do still exist at certain events for certain players,” said James Dunkley, manager for Lee Westwood and other players.The European Tour’s swing through the Middle East is known for using appearance fees to build top-notch fields. Those tournaments include the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which starts Thursday, followed by events in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, with prestige falling by the last two events.The reasons for paying fees are many. Without them, some top players won’t attend and the strength of the roster falls, which reduces the number of points available for the world golf rankings. That can further keep top players away. Sponsors, doling out millions of dollars, want to guarantee a strong field.Top players, who are mostly based in the United States, often want to avoid the travel and instead play in the early events on the PGA Tour, in Hawaii and California. They also have other commitments to schedule around.“Players typically commit to play 35 weeks, which leaves you 17 weeks a year off, or for holidays or sponsor obligations,” said Nick Biesecker, a longtime golf agent. “Time is your most valuable commodity. It has to be lucrative to carve out a week.”The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      Five Golfers to Watch at Abu Dhabi

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFive Golfers to Watch at Abu DhabiThe field seems impressive, and Lee Westwood is back to defend his title.Lee Westwood won the tournament last year and also was the European Tour’s Player of the Year.Credit…Mike Egerton/Press Association, via Associated PressJan. 20, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETThe European Tour will start its new season this week with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates. The tour will have 42 events in 24 countries, capped in November by the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.The HSBC championship, which has been held at the same course every year since 2006, is one of four tournaments in the Rolex Series.Here are five players to watch:Rory McIlroyMcIlroy, 31, of Northern Ireland, is due. His last victory came at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai in the fall of 2019. It was the same year he captured the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup for the second time.The Abu Dhabi course certainly appeals to McIlroy, who finished second in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He hasn’t played in the event since 2018, when he tied for third.Last year wasn’t one of McIlroy’s best. He recorded a number of very good rounds, but the problem was being able to put four of them together in the same week.Rory McIlroy at the Masters last year.Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesA good example was the Masters in November. Over the last three days, McIlroy shot 66, 67 and 69, one stroke lower in that span than the champion, Dustin Johnson. McIlroy, however, had started the tournament with a three-over 75. It was simply too much ground to make up.McIlroy, who was ranked No. 1 in the world before the pandemic, hasn’t won a major since 2014. Currently No. 6 in the rankings, he can achieve the Grand Slam with a victory in April at the Masters.Justin ThomasThomas, 27, ranked No. 3 in the world, will be playing for the first time in Abu Dhabi. He is one of the favorites every time he tees it up. He won three tournaments last season on the PGA Tour and now has 13 victories in his career.About two weeks ago, at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, Thomas finished third, shooting a final-round 66. His most costly mistake came when he bogeyed No. 17, as he finished one shot out of the playoff between Harris English and Joaquin Niemann.Justin Thomas at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.Credit…Cliff Hawkins/Getty ImagesThomas’s strong play at the tournament was overshadowed by his use of an anti-gay slur after missing a putt. He later apologized.In his three previous European Tour starts, his best finish was a tie for eighth at the 2018 HNA Open de France.Lee WestwoodWestwood, the defending champion and European Tour Golfer of the Year in 2020, is still quite capable at the age of 47.In last year’s event at Abu Dhabi, he held off Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Victor Perez to win his 25th European Tour victory. The wins have come in four separate decades.Westwood, the former No. 1 player in the world, will also have an opportunity this week to improve his chances of qualifying for the 2021 Ryder Cup, which will be held in Wisconsin.He has been a member of the European team 10 times, starting in 1997, and only Nick Faldo has appeared in more matches.A blemish in Westwood’s career is the lack of a major championship. He has come close with nine top-three finishes. In the 2019 British Open he finished in a tie for fourth.Westwood has been an excellent ball striker for many years. His short game, however, has not been at the same level.Tommy FleetwoodFleetwood, who turned 30 on Tuesday, has had a great deal of success at the Abu Dhabi course. He won the event in 2017 and 2018 and tied for second in 2020.Fleetwood, No. 19 in the world rankings, is also still chasing his first major title. He has been in contention on several occasions. In the 2018 United States Open, he fired a final-round 63 to finish one shot back of the winner, Brooks Koepka.In 2020, Fleetwood finished four times in the top three. Nonetheless, he knows the year could have been much better.“There are areas of my game where I felt I struggled,” he said. “My long game wasn’t up to the standard I feel it has to be.”Tommy Fleetwood at the Masters last year.Credit…Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesEven so, making the Ryder Cup team is well within his sights.The event, Fleetwood said, “is something you never want to miss again.” Fleetwood was 4-1 for the European team in 2018.Another goal is making it to Tokyo.“The Olympics is an occasion that I want to experience and represent my nation,” he said.Matthew FitzpatrickFitzpatrick ended the 2020 season with a striking victory at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. Tied for the lead heading into the final round, he birdied five of the first seven holes, prevailing by a shot over Westwood. It was his sixth European Tour triumph and first since the 2018 Omega European Masters.The win in Dubai couldn’t have come at a better time. In his prior 10 tournaments, he’d missed four cuts.“It was definitely great to get another win under my belt after so many second-place finishes over the last two seasons,” Fitzpatrick said.“I think any win or good result gives you some confidence, so hopefully I can carry the momentum into 2021. I’d say on the weeks leading up to the event I did some great swing work with my coach, Mike Walker, and that definitely showed.”Matthew Fitzpatrick at the BMW P.G.A. Championship in October.Credit…Paul Childs/Action Images, via ReutersOver the years, Fitzpatrick, No. 17 in the world, has revised his view of the Abu Dhabi course.“When I first came out on the European Tour, I kind of thought that it didn’t suit my game,” he said. “My perception of it was that it was a bomber’s paradise, but since then it’s kind of proved my theory wrong.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      European Golf’s Debt to Tony Jacklin

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyEuropean Golf’s Debt to Tony JacklinHe won two majors, but he really made his mark helping Europe in the Ryder Cup.Tony Jacklin cheering on the European team as captain at the 1985 Ryder Cup in Warwickshire, England. Credit…Chris Smith/Popperfoto, via Getty ImagesJan. 20, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETTony Jacklin of England won the 1969 British Open and a year later the United States Open.He was only 25, but he never won another major championship.The closest he came was in the 1972 British Open when he was tied playing the next-to-last hole. Lee Trevino, the eventual champion, then chipped in for a par. Jacklin finished third.Still, when you think of golf in Europe over the last half century, Jacklin’s name stands out because of the Ryder Cup, the tournament every two years that pits European players against Americans.Jacklin played in it seven times, including in 1969 when he was involved in one of its most famous incidents. He faced a short putt on the final green at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in England that would have tied the match when his opponent, Jack Nicklaus, just gave it to him. It became known as the “concession” and was the first time the event ended in a tie, though the United States retained the Cup as the previous winner.Jacklin was also Europe’s captain four times in the 1980s, when his team broke the Americans’ dominance.As the European Tour begins a new season at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Jacklin, 76, reflected recently on his career. The following conversation has been edited and condensed.You said you believed you traveled too much in your playing days, but wasn’t there a lot of money on the table?If you wanted to have financial security, you had to play in Japan and Australia at the end of a busy season. It was a balancing act, but you can only play well if mind and body turn up together. And there were too many occasions when the body turned up and the mind wasn’t ready for action. I spread myself too thin. I was playing 28 or 30 [tournaments a year].Were you never the same after Trevino beat you in 1972?It did something to me. I never thought luck played such a big part in it. I witnessed audacious luck the last two days from him. He hit a couple of shots [from off the green] that flew straight in the hole, and he was sort of laughing it all off. It knocked the stuffing out of me.Wasn’t it just one tournament?It’s one tournament, but it was the main tournament in my life. Thank God I’d won one. Otherwise, it would have been a real career-breaker. It changed my outlook on the game. I thought if you worked hard and was really good, that you won.Tony Jacklin after winning the British Open in 1969.Credit…Getty ImagesIt’s been 50 years since you won the U.S. Open. Is there a moment that stands out?I hit a putt on the ninth green from about 30 feet for a birdie. I hit it too hard, and the ball hit the back of the hole, jumping in the air, and dropped in. It was after that putt went in that I felt all the pressure roll off me. I’m not overly religious — I believe in God — but on that final day, I prayed in the morning. Not to win, just to have the strength to get through the day.What is your favorite Ryder Cup memory as a captain?Winning on American soil [in Ohio] for the first time in 1987. There’s only one first, and that was it. It was a heck of a performance by a really great team. We had great team unity. There were journeyman pros on my team who really dug deep.Are you more proud of your accomplishments as a player or as the Ryder Cup captain?It’s like asking, which is your favorite child? They both came at a completely different time in my life.Do people still come up to you and mention the putt Nicklaus conceded?All the time, and the putt becomes four feet, not two. He hollered after me after we both teed off on the last hole. I waited for him, and he said, “Are you nervous?” I said, “I’m petrified.” He said, “I just want you to know I feel the same way.”If you could change anything in the game today, what would it be?I’d like the ball to go 50 yards shorter. I don’t understand how people think it would be a move backwards.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Tiger Woods Announces He Had a Fifth Back Operation

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTiger Woods Announces He Had a Fifth Back OperationWoods, 45, expects to miss at least the first two months of the year on the PGA Tour.Tiger Woods at the PNC Championship last month. He said in a social media post Tuesday that he had experienced discomfort during the tournament.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressJan. 19, 2021Updated 9:18 p.m. ETTiger Woods, whose transcendent golf career nearly ended prematurely because of multiple back operations, has undergone another procedure on his spine.Woods, a 15-time major champion, announced Tuesday on social media that he recently had his fifth back operation in the past seven years and indicated that he did not expect to return to the PGA Tour before March.The operation was his fourth microdiscetomy and his first back surgery since a spinal fusion in April 2017 that allowed him to make a triumphant comeback to the game he had long dominated.pic.twitter.com/YD0IQbF2K4— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) January 19, 2021
      Woods, 45, said he would miss two events near his childhood home in Southern California — the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in the final week of January, and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club starting Feb. 18. He is the honorary host of the Genesis Invitational.Woods said he started feeling discomfort after the PNC Championship in December, when he laughed his way around the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., as he played alongside his 11-year-old son, Charlie.According to the social media post, his recent procedure removed a pressurized disc fragment that was pinching a nerve. The doctors deemed the surgery a success, according to the post, which also said Woods was expected to make a full recovery.“I look forward to begin training and am focused on getting back out on Tour,” Woods said in the statement.According to Kevin McGuire, the section chief for the Center for Pain and Spine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, Woods probably had what is called “adjacent segment disease,” which occurs when nearby discs deteriorate as they compensate for limitations at the fusion site.“Professional athletes are different human beings, in my opinion, than the rest of us mortals,” said McGuire, who was not involved in Woods’s treatment. “If the rest of us swung the golf club as many times as Tiger Woods did, most of us would get hurt, get injured, or have back problems. So professional athletes tend to come back fast — or, do come back faster.”Woods has contended with unpredictable back pain over the years, and his 2020 starts yielded just one top-10 finish, a tie for ninth in January at the Farmers Insurance Open. In mid-February of 2020, he became stiff and repeatedly grimaced throughout the final two rounds of the Genesis Invitational, where he shot an 11 over par and finished last among the golfers who made the cut.In the six majors he has played since his 2019 Masters victory, he has missed the cut three times, tied for 21st, tied for 37th and tied for 38th.In August 2019 Woods had a fifth arthroscopic procedure done on his left knee. Woods returned three months later in Japan and claimed his 82nd career victory, tying him atop the career PGA Tour wins list with Sam Snead.Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Woods had to wait until November to try to defend his Masters title. But he struggled trudging up and down the wet Georgia hills, the physical toll exacerbated by rain and limited autumn sunlight, which meant compressed tee times and little time for rest and recuperation. Woods finished tied for 38th, 19 shots behind the winner, Dustin Johnson.“No matter how much I push and ask of this body, it just doesn’t work at times,” Woods told reporters then.But Woods has become accustomed to making comebacks.“The classic line I give a lot of my patients is: ‘If you really enjoy something, go for quality rather than quantity,’” McGuire said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More