Tiger Woods spoke to reporters on Monday while practicing at Congressional in Maryland, and he offered some encouraging words about his rehab from back surgery. The results, however, told a slightly different story.
Woods said he is “progressing nicely” and hit a few practice shots for the cameras. As Christine Brennan of USA Today noted, the 40-year-old hit three consecutive shots in the water from a distance of just over 100 yards.
Tiger Woods hits three 102-yard shots. All 3 go into the water. Not good at all. Here's the 1st: @USATODAYsports pic.twitter.com/xSxKSyTIOb
— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) May 16, 2016
Woods said he was “a little stiff” after the first two and asked for a third shot at it. The result was the same.
And the third in the water. All within 90 seconds. Yikes. pic.twitter.com/igdpONuTAY
— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) May 16, 2016
What does this mean? Probably not a whole lot, but it is a definite sign that Woods is not all that close to being tournament ready. The good news is that it appears the report we heard a few months ago about his career being in jeopardy was premature, though it could still be a long road to recovery.
Tiger told reporters that he cannot say for sure when he will be back, adding that he won’t play again until he can practice, play and recover consistently. If you got excited about this development a couple weeks back, you might want to temper your expectations for the time being.
