Count Brandel Chamblee among those who wonder just how much golf Tiger Woods will play outside the majors.
Woods, who last played a PGA Tour event in February at the Genesis Invitational and skipped the Players Championship with back pain, did return for The Match on May 24, an 18-hole exhibition, but opted not to participate in this week’s PGA Tour re-start at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“I think Tiger in his own way has sort of hinted that whatever events he’s going to play the rest of his career are going to be very minimal,” Chamblee said. “He, I think, is trying to stretch out his body, you know, the wear and tear on his body, and see how long he can be competitive in major championships. … I think he is being very cautious about wearing out his body.”
Woods, 44, had a fourth back surgery in 2017 that fused a vertebrae and returned to win the 2019 Masters, his 15th major, before requiring arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in August – his fifth on the same problem joint. Woods won his PGA Tour record-tying 82nd title two months later at the Zozo Championship in Japan. His latest back pain renewed concern that his chase of Jack Nicklaus’s record 18 major might be derailed again, but Woods looked sharp playing the Medalist in Florida, his home course, in a televised charity fundraiser with partner Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady.
“For the week-in, week-out fan, it’s disappointing we’re not going to see more of Tiger Woods. But I would just say, look, we’ve had our run. Anything else we get from him from an entertainment standpoint is gravy at this point. All of us have gotten to see the greatest golfer of all time and he’s authored two, maybe three of the greatest comebacks the sport has ever seen,” Chamblee said. “So he’s already given us, you know, Secretariat, Brett Favre, Jack Nicklaus all rolled into one. So, what more could we ask for from him?”
Another major perhaps?
Chamblee isn’t so sure that the three majors on the 2020 calendar set up well for Woods. Chamblee is concerned that cooler temperatures in San Francisco at the PGA Championship in August, New York at the U.S. Open in September and Augusta, Georgia, at the Masters in November will make it more challenging on his achy back.
“But again I look at the Tiger I saw at Zozo and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him swing better than that,” Chamblee said. “But from a physical standpoint, it’s like his body is a wet grocery bag filled with jugs of milk. You just never know when it’s going to burst.
“The drama really is watching him sort of walk around a golf course. We’re all looking for any sign of injury, and if he shows up lively and ready to go, then it’s game on.”
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