Tiger Woods: My Leg Feels OK, as Long as I Don’t Play Golf

TULSA, Okla. — Tiger Woods has a very good humorousness, although it’s uncommon for him to make use of it in a public setting. However at 46, he’s evolving. What was as soon as unthinkable for him — playfully mocking his poor play on the golf course — is one in every of his new, winsome instruments.

On Thursday, six weeks after his stirring comeback on the Masters Event, Woods returned to aggressive golf within the first spherical of the P.G.A. Championship. After a blazing begin with two early birdies, Woods was limping a little bit on his proper leg, which was surgically reconstructed after a number of critical fractures sustained in his horrific automobile crash early final yr. A few holes later, Woods was limping rather a lot, even generally utilizing a golf membership like a cane to ascend or descend hills.

Not surprisingly, his rating quickly mirrored his infirmity as he shot a four-over-par 74 with seven bogeys in his last 13 holes. After he had hobbled to a rostrum for a information convention, he was requested about his rebuilt leg.

“Yeah, not feeling pretty much as good as I would really like it to be,” he stated with a smile. Woods added that he couldn’t put weight on his proper leg in his backswing — generally known as loading — and he additionally struggled to push off his leg on the downswing, too.

“Loading hurts, urgent off it hurts, and strolling hurts and twisting hurts,” he stated.

Woods then deadpanned: “It’s simply golf. If I don’t play that, if I don’t do this, then I’m all proper.”

“We’ll begin the restoration course of and get after it tomorrow,” he added, predicting that his night would come with ice baths and myriad efforts to scale back irritation in his proper leg.

And so, Woods’s ongoing return to elite golf is following the bumpy, irregular development that even he forecast earlier than the Masters when he stated he anticipated a collection of excellent days and dangerous days.

“It’s a course of,” Woods stated.

A part of that course of, as Woods acknowledged on Tuesday, was that his proper leg and his ailing again, which has been operated on 5 occasions, now not allowed him to observe for lengthy intervals of time, which had been routine for him since he was a kindergartner. Whereas watching Woods play on Thursday, it was simple to surprise if a few of his troubles on the golf course have been associated to an absence of preparation off it, particularly for somebody like Woods who was as soon as famend for exhausting work habits.

For instance, one in every of Woods’s taking part in companions Thursday was Rory McIlroy, who’s the first-round chief after a five-under-par 65. McIlroy efficiently navigated the tough sloping greens of the Southern Hills Nation Membership with deft chipping, bunker play and lethal correct placing.

Woods’s quick recreation was as soon as in all probability his best power, however on Thursday it let him down repeatedly. Furthermore, Woods appeared uncomfortable, or uncertain, over these pictures, which was startling. Woods with a wedge or a putter in his fingers had at all times been commanding and cocksure.

However on the sixth gap that Woods performed Thursday, when he was nonetheless two beneath par for the spherical, he was in a greenside bunker with a reasonably simple shot to the pin, which was 23 ft away. Shockingly, he blasted his shot 21 ft previous the opening and made bogey.

Three holes later, taking part in the 18th gap as a result of his group started its spherical on the tenth tee, Woods was in one other greenside bunker and once more thumped his ball 20 ft previous the opening for a bogey. Even after Woods rallied for a birdie three holes later, one other bunker shot on the following gap sailed over the inexperienced and led to one more bogey.

Woods regarded exasperated, and as typically occurs to any golfer, missteps in a single side of the sport led to an absence of execution in one other a part of a part of the sport as Woods did not convert a number of long- or medium-range putts. Take into account that some individuals assume Woods was the best strain putter of golf’s fashionable period.

Requested about his difficulties from the sand, Woods stated: “Yeah, all of the bunker pictures type of got here out scorching.”

However his bunker play was not the one method Thursday’s spherical appeared uncharacteristic for Woods. For greater than 25 years, Woods was generally known as an aggressive golfer, and he all however invented the bombing-it-off-the-tee-with-a-driver fashion that has overtaken the game.

However on Thursday, as McIlroy and the third golfer within the grouping, Jordan Spieth, launched drivers far down the green, Woods was hitting lengthy irons and taking part in for place. Generally he was greater than 60 yards behind McIlroy off the tee, though as Woods later stated, not with the ability to push off his proper leg prompted him to slice pictures to the fitting.

“I wouldn’t have been to this point again if I’d have hit the iron shot strong and put the ball within the fairway,” he stated. “I used to be taking part in to my spots, and people guys clearly have a unique recreation plan. The sport is simply completely different. It’s rather more aggressive now, and I do know that. However I used to be taking part in to my spots. If I’d have hit the ball solidly on these two holes and put the ball within the fairway, I’d have been fantastic.”

He continued: “However I didn’t do this. I put the ball within the tough.”

The smile that Woods dropped at the start of his information convention was dissipating. The golf comeback that appeared unlikely solely 15 months in the past would proceed Friday, Woods stated. However earlier than he walked away with a noticeable, lurching limp, Woods had a final remark.

“It was a irritating day,” he stated.