I am officially now at the "he's done, it's completely over" stage. I know some of you have already been there, but for me, I wanted to see how this stretch of four tournaments went with him being supposedly healthy.

MC
WD after one round
WD
WD

It's over. It was a great run.

Agree.

Back injury is a brutal thing to overcome, especially at 40+. It's not an ACL where you patch it up, heal/rehab over time, and get back at it. It tends to be a lot more about damage control than able to get right again, and oftentimes what's left of it is just too fragile to hold up to much stress.

I thought it was "back spasms". yeah right. It is over.

Stupid back.

I am not sure what everyone else was watching when tiger played in the last tournament. I thought his swing looked terrible compared to what we were use to.

It is completely obvious that his left leg and back are killing him. He is swinging like Soreinstien use to swing. Almost a walking swing with zero torque!!!

Unless he heals and changes to his old swing, its not happening!

Yep. I've had back spasms before. One week of chiro visits cleared them right up.

Time for him to retire.

ORAggieFan said:

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Just making sure he's rested and ready for another Green Jacket.

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He'll be at a Waffle House in West Palm Beach about the same time that ceremony takes place in April ...

His back might be sore, but that isn't why he's skipping these tournaments.

The guy can't hit it straight.

He should now focus on broadcasting for the Golf Channel.

Less than 2 years removed from a WORST BALL 66
http://www.golfdigest.com/story/apparently-tiger-woods-recentl
EDIT: this was NOT an April Fool's joke

I agree. I watched the first 5 holes in Dubai and thought he looked terrible. It just didn't look like a scratch golfers swing, much less a PGA pro.

I saw a little bit of his tournament in the Bahamas or wherever when he first came back and didn't notice it as much. Something changed.

Probably doesn't help that he looks like he could bench press a Volkswagen.

I'm no tiger woods, but I had a back issue several years ago. Backs degenerate with time. It's a fact of life. They can trim away some material causing discomfort on the nerve but that is not the same as replacing a worn out part with a new part. They can't give you a new spine, they can't make you 20 years younger. I'm sure many have come back 100 percent from an isolated problem, but it sounds like this is not an isolated issue with one bad disc, but more of an overall "bad back" and the problems may be too big to solve and still be able to swing and play like the Tiger of old.

Oyster DuPree said:

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Less than 2 years removed from a WORST BALL 66
http://www.golfdigest.com/story/apparently-tiger-woods-recentl
EDIT: this was NOT an April Fool's joke

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I thought this was BS at the time and still do - or there were at least some big asterisks that we weren't informed of.

After Torrey Pines I said I didn't think he could win with that swing. It looked really bad. Just looks so old and stiff. But I had wondered if it might look better as he trusted it in tournament play. Nope.

aginlakeway said:

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ORAggieFan said:

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Just making sure he's rested and ready for another Green Jacket.

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He'll be at a Waffle House in West Palm Beach about the same time that ceremony takes place in April ...

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So waffles and strange or a pay check? Sounds like a win win to me

I just hope he doesn't come to Houston for the Shell Houston Open. Chances are slim but it worries me he may want to get tournament rounds in prepping for the Masters.

I just like going where there isn't that many people and drunk slobs hollering after every shot.

There's a 0% chance that happens.

He's never shown up at the SHO so why would start now?

Ag_07 said:

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There's a 0% chance that happens.

He's never shown up at the SHO so why would start now?

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Because he has starting playing tournaments the last year or so he hasn't played in a loooong time and it worries me. Not to mention he just built a course not too far away from Houston....

Ag_07 said:

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There's a 0% chance that happens.

He's never shown up at the SHO so why would start now?

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While I agree we probably won't see him this year, there is a rule in place that if you haven't played a tournament in 5 years or so and don't play at least 20 tournaments a year, you have to play that tournament. Justin Rose played in Hawaii this year because of this rule.

Now the spasms are too severe for him to attend a press conference. Okay...

Big.Cat-93 said:

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Now the spasms are too severe for him to attend a press conference. Okay...

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yeah it aint spasms.

My grandpa had a surgery a couple years ago because the vertebrae were "sealing" around the nerves and causing him intense pain in his legs and feet. They bored out the nerve channels and he was up and moving again in few weeks.

I wonder if something similar is happening with Tigers back

It's actually pretty sad to think about, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is grappling with some type of serious mental disorder. Clearly, a lot of his issues are head issues and not back related. Totally whiffing on routine chip shots, awful reads on puts etc. Even when his back was supposedly fine. Pros don't do this. My buddy who is a 4 hcp doesnt do this. Not repeatedly at least.

Wycliffe_03 said:

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Even when his back was supposedly fine.

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His back was never fine. This is the issue. He is not willing to admit that the back is ****-ed and he cannot just will himself through it anymore

I agree with that. I don't think his back has been fine in at least a decade.

That's not to say a mental block is not hurting him. It can get anybody. But a lot of that is confidencertainly and bad backs can kill confidence.

98Ag99Grad said:

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Ag_07 said:

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There's a 0% chance that happens.

He's never shown up at the SHO so why would start now?

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While I agree we probably won't see him this year, there is a rule in place that if you haven't played a tournament in 5 years or so and don't play at least 20 tournaments a year, you have to play that tournament. Justin Rose played in Hawaii this year because of this rule.

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Pretty sure he's exempt from the rule. A little Googling says that Life Members are exempt.

He might have to qualify for the 2019 US Open at Pebble beach if I'm not mistaken...

So how long until he announces that he is undergoing another surgery and will miss the rest of 2017?

Correct. His US Open exemption runs out after 2018, as well as his Players Championship exemption. The other issue is WGC events where you currently have to be ranked in a good range to qualify.

What are not an issue are the British, Masters, PGA championship, and regular PGA events, where he's essentially lifetime exempt (or at least until old man age limits).