It may be time to consider that Tiger Woods might never return to golf
After David Feherty's recent Big Cat comments, it's starting to look like a legitimate possibility that an eventual return could be in jeopardy
By
Kyle Porter
•
2 min read
Cases and arguments are built of facts. Here are eight about Tiger Woods.
- His agent, Mark Steinberg, said on April 3 he "absolutely" expects Woods to play competitive golf in 2016.
- It was revealed on April 21 that Michael Jordan thinks Woods wants to retire.
- He hit three 100-yard wedge shots in the water at an exhibition on May 16.
- He revealed earlier that day that he's unsure when he's going to play. "I get it all the time," said Woods. "If I knew, I'd tell you. It would be fun to know. It'd be nice to know I'm going to play on such and such a date, but I don't know."
- He had a very strange interaction with a reporter later that same day in which he insinuated that he was going to retire.
- He has not played 18 consecutive holes since the final round of the Wyndham Championship.
- David Feherty said recently that he's not sure if Tiger will return -- ever.
"I am not sure that Tiger will come back because it is a nerve in his back," Feherty told Irish Golf Desk. "It's not muscular or skeletal. It's not something you can deal with in a physical way. I think he has a feeling that if he doesn't make it back this time, he might be done from a physical standpoint. There must be something about the game that has a hook because he could buy one of the Bahamas and declare himself a republic."
Former Tiger beat writer Robert Lusetich was dubious that Feherty was speaking without knowledge.
I'm inclined to believe #Feherty didn't just pull out of thin air that #Tiger may never recover from nerve damage in his back #InsideInfo
— Robert Lusetich (@RobertLusetich) May 25, 2016
There's a quote I keep coming back to from a Washington Post story the day of the mess at Congressional. It stunned me when I read it. It stuns me even more now. It had to have been a misstep by Woods who is usually extremely buttoned up when it comes to these things. Here it is.
"It's brutal," Woods told the Post of his attempt at a comeback from a third back surgery. "Do I want to go through that whole process again, of getting back? Some part of me said yes. Some part of me said no, because it is hard."
Here's the thing: Woods is still in the middle of that "process." When you haven't played 18 consecutive holes, you are not on the other side of it.
Feherty's comments resonate with me. I've believed all along that we would not see Woods in 2016. I balked after he showed off his stuff at his course opening in Houston, but I'm still on that thought process. Now I'm curious if we'll ever see Woods again.
Each fact I listed above is in and of itself not an indication that Woods might hang 'em up forever. But when you start adding them up, it starts to paint a different picture altogether.
