Tiger Woods Far From Retirement?

Tiger Woods, St Andrews.

Many people think and believe that Tiger Woods and his golf career are washed out. This can be due to the vast negatives in his career in the last two years. Some people argue that this is because of his back surgery, others argue that he’s just old. Which one is it? What does Tiger think about that?

WOODS STILL GOT THE “TIGER” IN HIM

In a recent news conference at the Old Course, Tiger Woods stated “I know you guys think I’m buried and done, but I’m still right here in front of you”. He continued, “I love playing. I love competing, and I love playing these events.”

Woods still obviously believes he’s young and ready to be competitive. Tiger’s last PGA Tour victory came in August 2013, when he won 5 times and was the player of the year.

When asked about retirement, he had a simple answer.

“Well, retirement? I don’t have any AARP card [a discount group for people 50 and older] yet, so I’m a ways from that,” Woods stated. “I feel like my body is finally healed up from the [lower-back disk] surgery from last year. They say it takes you about four to six months to get back, but I’ve heard a lot of guys on tour who have the surgery and other athletes who say it takes over a year to get back.”

He then added, “I think they were probably closer to being right — it being a full year to get back. It would have been one thing if I would have gone through the procedure and then had the same golf swing, but I’ve changed the golf swing, too, on top of that. So that was kind of a double dipper there where I had to fight both at the same time.”

Since his back surgery last year, Woods has dropped all the way down to 241st in the world, due to his “shaky” performances of the last years.

In Tigers defense, golf coach Chris Como had changed Tiger’s course in 2014, so thats something that takes time to get used to.

After his last disaster of a course, he is back to where he’s been a killer at. He’s back at the home of golf.

“I’m very excited,” Woods stated. “Very excited to be back here at the home of golf. I’ve always loved this golf course — from the first time I played it back in ’95 — so it’s just something special about it. It’s nice to be out there on the course and see it and feel it again, to be able to hit all the shots.”

He feels comfortable. I think he has some sort of future. I don’t know what it is, but any time Tiger is mentioned, he still has value and he’s still different then all other golf stars.

“It’s playing a little differently than we’ve had in previous Opens, or the previous Opens that I’ve played in. It’s a little bit softer, and I’m sure it’s going to get even softer with the forecast for Friday.”

Tiger knows that this course is based on the wind and how its impacting the day.

“Obviously, the into-the-wind holes are going to be a little bit more difficult. It’s hard to carry some of the bunkers in some of the fairways sometimes, but you’ve got to make your hay on the holes that are downwind, on the ones that are easy. You’ve got to be able to make those birdies, and sometimes you’ve just got to hang in there on the holes that are into the wind.”

Im kind of excited to see how Woods answers all these comments. He starts play on Thursday morning. Ready to see what impact he makes after such a statement. Let me know if you think Woods has a chance at returning. Why or why not? Thank you!

Hagop Margossian

Founder of Spark Sports