Seeing Tiger's Future
There were doubts that Hogan would walk again, much less play golf again. Yet play golf Hogan did, and he won most of his majors after the accident - despite the fact that he never again played double-digit tournaments in any given season, and was in constant pain on the golf course.
One of the things we know about Tiger Woods is this: He is one tough hombre. His injury is not akin to Hogan's, but it's possible his post-injury career may be.
Most of the medical professionals quoted talking about Woods' injury and recovery process seem confident he can come back from ACL surgery. Some golf professionals talking about Woods' injury and recovery suggest that he might have to make some big changes to his swing to lessen the impact on his left knee.
Here are my predictions:
1. Nobody in golf has the determination, the will and the work ethic that Woods has. He'll recover from surgery just fine.
2. He might make some minor concessions to the rebuilt knee by making some minor adjustments to his swing. But the key word is "minor." The major concession Woods will make to protect his knee is ...
3. Less golf, different workouts. I see Woods playing no more than 10 or 12 tournaments a year - and in some years only seven or eight - upon his return. This is the main way he'll protect the knee - by playing less golf, and by making changes to his intensive workout routine.
Sometimes in baseball, a fastball pitcher will blow out his arm. And he'll work hard to develop new pitches, and return to the majors as a finesse pitcher rather than a power pitcher. And some of those pitchers enjoy many more years in the big leagues - but very few of them are ever as good as they were before the the injury.
Tiger is a fastball golfer, so to speak. He's not going to turn into a finesse golfer just to extend his career. He's interested in winning, not just hanging around.
That's why I believe he'll make only minor concessions to the knee in his swing - because he wants to keep throwing that fastball. He wants those wins. So his main concession will be in the area of schedule, not swing.
4. And finally, my last prediction: After Tiger Woods breaks Jack Nicklaus' record for major championships (he's only four behind in professional majors), he'll do as his friend Annika Sorenstam did and walk away.
Oh, perhaps he'll stick around only long enough to also break Sam Snead's career wins record (he's 17 behind), if necessary - assuming Nicklaus' record falls first. He wants those records, but the majors record is much more important to him.
But more important than either record is the ability to play golf with friends when he's 60 years old, to play golf with Sam when she's 20 years old, to be active the rest of his life.
So Tiger Woods will come back with only minor changes to his swing but bigger changes to his schedule and workout regimen; he'll play less but continue to play hard when he does play; he'll win those few more majors he needs to break Nicklaus' record, and he'll win those remaining PGA Tour titles he needs to break Snead's wins record; and then he'll retire from competitive golf. And be acclaimed as probably the greatest individual player in the history of sports - not just his sport, but any sport.
Comments
“Ben Hogan doesn’t count,” says Tiger Woods? I say crap on a cracker. Hogan was easily twice the man Woods is.
That’s the thing with reading a comment out of context.
A reporter asked him at the press conference about playing in pain as Hogan did and Tiger said, “The two don’t COMPARE.” He did not say Count… he said compare. he went on to say Hogan’s injuries were way worse that his because Hogan’s injouries were life-threatening, while his were not. He said, ‘They didn’t know if he would live or ever walk again. At least, I know I will continue to walk.” He also remindeed the Press that Rocco has played through pain all his carrer, with a bad back, and other athletes paly through pain all the time. Tiger said there was nothing special about him playing through pain, that other golfers did it all the time.
My apologies for sowing some confusion about what Tiger meant, but what Vinnie says is what I was trying get out. I said Hogan’s injury doesn’t “count” because it was in so completely different a class of incident. It doesn’t “count” as in it shouldn’t be considered when thinking of injuries in the past comparable to Tiger’s, because – as Tiger himself said – it is so completely not comparable.