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06/18/2008: "Tiger Tough"
Still think golfers aren't athletes? Try this on for size: From last Thursday through Monday, Tiger Woods walked over seven miles with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and two stress fractures in his left tibia. Oh, and he also won the US Open, arguably the toughest golf tournament in the world.
Woods' performance in the Open was already the stuff of legend, but it grew even larger today when he announced via his web site that the damage to his knee was greater than he'd let on. He'll need season-ending surgery, meaning he'll miss the last two majors and the Ryder Cup. The damage, while significant, is said to not be career-threatening, although others point out that Ernie Els and Brad Faxon never returned to form after they had similar surgeries. But they're not Eldrick.
During the event, Tiger had been coy about his injury, saying simply that the knee felt worse each day. That led some, most notably fellow golfer Retief Goosen, to suggest that Woods was actually sandbagging it and the injury wasn't as significant as he made it seem. I'll bet the Goose is feeling like quite the ass right about now. In his announcement, Woods explained his reticence to talk earlier.
"I know much was made of my knee throughout the last week, and it was important to me that I disclose my condition publicly at an appropriate time. I wanted to be very respectful of the USGA and their incredibly hard work, and make sure the focus was on the U.S. Open," Woods said.. "Now, it is clear that the right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee."
Perhaps more amazing that the victory itself is that Woods called his shot, telling his doctors that not only would he play against their orders, he'd win the event.
Hank Haney, his swing coach, was with him in Florida when doctors told Woods the preferred treatment was three weeks on crutches, followed by three weeks of rest.
According to Haney, Woods looked at the doctor and said: "I'm playing the U.S. Open, and I'm going to win."
"And then he started putting on his shoes," Haney recalled. "He looked at me and said, 'Come on, Hank. We'll just putt today.'
Amazing.
Woods will miss nearly a dozen events that he normally plays, opening the door for some of the others to try and step out of his very long shadow. I've talked before about how today's generation of golfers never gets the chance to learn how to win whenever Woods is in the field; now we're gonna find out who - if any - really want it ...
