The news hit the media like an earthquake: Tiger Woods had back surgery Monday afternoon and will not play in the Masters next week. ESPN broke the news -- GC was just moments behind -- and the speculation began about what this means for Tiger's pursuit of 19 majors.
When I heard the news, my reaction was simply... Finally. I think this is good news and, while I may be in the minority, I think this actually improves Tiger's chances of reaching his goal.
Let me summarize what we understand; I'm going mainly from what I heard at the ESPN and GC TV insurance. You can get extra info from those posts at ESPN, CBSsports (where the picture came from), USAToday, and GC.
Although maximum of the insurance has focused on Tiger's lower back ache for the reason that 2013 PGA Championship and the FedExCup Playoffs, a few reports say Tiger's problems started out at Jack's Place remaining 12 months. It simply failed to become publicly substantive till the Deutsche Bank tournament.
Tiger's surgery is called a microdiscectomy -- micro- because it's minimally invasive, -discectomy because they remove part of a disc. Dr. Ara Suppiah at GC likened it to a squashed jelly donut, where some jelly (part of the disc) got squeezed out. The "squeezed-out jelly" was pinching a nerve, and that caused the pain. In this surgery -- which can take as little as 15 minutes and in some cases is performed with a laser -- the "extra jelly" is snipped off and the "donut" stitched shut so no more comes out. Relief from the pain typically ranges from almost immediate to less than 24 hours.
According to ESPN's injury analyst Stephania Bell, a take a look at become achieved on 80 athletes from diverse sports who had this surgical procedure. Around 90% of them back to their pre-damage level of performance. (Want some names? Try New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski and Houston Rocket's middle Dwight Howard.) So Tiger has a completely reasonable risk of regaining his preceding shape as soon as he heals.
Tiger has said he hopes to be running on his short game in three weeks and to be back playing someday this summer time. Here's the general framework of recovery, based totally on material from both GC and ESPN:
- As I said before, the pain relief is almost immediate.
- Patients typically return to normal function in daily activities -- walking, driving, doing normal chores, etc. -- in roughly 8 weeks.
- "Full recovery" -- and by that I mean the player has healed enough to start working at his or her sport -- averages 4.5 months, with the typical range being 3 to 6 months. Suppiah said the exact time depends somewhat on the determination of the athlete, and this is Tiger we're talking about, so... it's probably gonna be on the shorter side of this time scale. ;-)
- And as I also said, studies show that around 90% of those players eventually return to their original pre-back problem levels of function. So, barring any unforeseen problems, he should be able to perform just as well going forward as he has in the past.
- Finally, there are no indications that this surgery has any sort of adverse affect on a player's career. In other words, Tiger's career will likely be as long as he wants.
As to the purpose of the hassle, some of docs said that it could have been brought about greater by Tiger's exercise routine than with the aid of his swing -- even though he's going to nearly truly need to make a few adjustments to his swing because, to use their words, it's a chunk "violent." Tiger will absolutely must reduce the depth and possibly the frequency of his workout schedule, but this is probably not a terrible component. I can tell you this from revel in -- while an older body can nevertheless make the identical kind of muscular enhancements as a younger body, it desires longer rest intervals between workout routines because the older frame rebuilds a touch extra slowly than the more youthful frame.
With best one or exceptions, most of the humans I heard comment approximately "the intention" felt that the chances were now in opposition to Tiger. But Dottie Pepper introduced up an tantalizing idea: With all the other issues Tiger has had -- elbow, Achilles tendon, knee -- this layoff may additionally provide these kind of ailments some time to sooner or later heal.
Unfortunately, over-training is as much a part of the Tiger legacy as the "golfers are athletes" mindset. Suzann Pettersen had to withdraw from the KNC this week, also because of a bulging disc... and apparently also as a result of too much time in the gym. Will she need back surgery? Nobody knows yet, but this should be a cautionary tale to the rest of us.
As the day went on, I heard more and more human beings say it turned into a great idea to get this done NOW in place of ready. I had already decided it turned into a very good choice surely due to Retief Goosen. Goosen's returned troubles have dragged on for 2 years. Back on the Honda -- while asked approximately the best round he had simply shot -- he mentioned that he were pain-loose for almost 6 months and that his recreation changed into coming returned into form. He said he waited too lengthy, unwilling to undergo surgical procedure. His game won't have taken so long to return back if he had just bitten the bullet and dealt with the problem.
By going ahead and fixing a hassle that wasn't getting any better on its own, Tiger will be gambling again in five or 6 months... And maybe be a first-rate force again by next 12 months.
As for the skeptics who're prepared to write down him off (once more), here is a parting notion. Jack Nicklaus gained majors #thirteen and #14 in 1975 -- the Masters and the PGA. Then got here his ultimate four majors:
- 1978 Open Championship
- 1980 US Open
- 1980 PGA Championship
- 1986 Masters
Jack missed 3 years among majors, then 2 greater years, and eventually 6 more years. So he wanted eleven years to get his very last 4 majors. Are you with me to this point?
Let's supply Tiger the relaxation of 2014 to recover. Now it's 7 years when you consider that his final primary, and he's 39. Suppose he comes out ache-unfastened in 2015 and finishes the yr with one important, giving him 15 while he turns forty. Could a ache-loose Tiger get to 19 majors by the point he's forty six? That's 4 majors in 6 years. And undergo in mind that, for the duration of the worst of his lower back ache this year, with little or no exercise time, he still managed to put up a 65 and a sixty six on the weekend at of the toughest publications he faced.
And this is assuming his profession ended at age forty six. I'm not certain it'll.
Could a wholesome Tiger nonetheless make it to 19? I sure would not guess in opposition to him.
Yeah, I think he made the right desire too.
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