Woods will be watching his tournament from the couch
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.com Correspondent
His left leg is in a brace. He's on crutches when he needs to move. He's not sure about his total recovery time.
And, for the moment, flying is out of the question.
No word on how many times he's had to stop one-year-old Sam from bouncing on his reconstructed knee -- the one that's been hurting him for a decade now.
Or what kind of patient he is. Knowing him, we're thinking not too perfect since he admits he doesn't always listen to his doctors.
That's the short version of where Tiger Woods is post-op. He's been out of sight since winning that iconic third U.S. Open -- and 14th major title -- thanks to surgery to reconstruct his left ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). But he's hardly been out of mind.
And this week? He'll be hosting his AT&T National this week from his couch, leg straight and propped up.
"I would love to be there, but flying unfortunately swells up my leg pretty good,'' Tiger said on a 19-minute conference call Monday afternoon. "When I flew home from the procedure, it ballooned up.
"The doctor advised me to stay away from planes. But who knows? I don't listen to doctors very well anyway.''
Don't let him fool you. As he talked about the leg, the surgery and the future, he admitted he's been working hard on his swing for a while so it would take pressure off what is now a rebuilt knee. He also admitted the knee has bothered him for a decade now -- through the 2002 surgery to remove a cyst and the post-Masters arthroscopic surgery, which was supposed to nurse the leg through 2008.
Instead, he got a double stress fracture. That on top of the other injury -- he ruptured his ACL running on a golf course -- was too much.
"My ACL wasn't really all that great 2002 when I had cyst removed from [my] ACL,'' he said. 'There wasn't a whole lot there. They said you need to train and develop your hamstring and glute and calf as much as you possibly can to hold it.
"Everyone was very surprised it lasted as long as it did before I ruptured it. I was just running on the golf course. I just happened to take one step. It didn't take much. And it popped right there.''
X-rays and an MRI revealed the stress fractures. So, he decided to make the U.S. Open his last event of the year. No matter what happened.
He tried to rest after the stress fractures, skipping the Memorial Tournament, but he was only able to play 9-hole practice rounds leading up to the U.S. Open.
"When I was practicing, it got to a point where I couldn't walk to the golf cart anymore,'' he said. "And that's not good when the cart is sitting 10 feet away.''
To confirm, doctors both cut into the knee to repair it -- Tiger said they took a tendon out of his right hamstring and made it into a new ACL -- and went in arthroscopically to fix a bit more cartilage damage.
His leg is in a straight brace and will be that way -- and getting around on crutches -- for about three more weeks.
"Let everything calm down and quiet down for 3 weeks post op, and, from there, I can start some weight bearing,'' he said. " . . . I can gradually start putting weight on it and flexing it.''
The perfect scenario would have him ready to tee it up at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines next January, but a more realistic scenario has him returning in time for the 2009 Masters.
"As far as long term, I really don't know. We just have to see how this heals,'' he said. "And everyone heals at a different rate. Some are back to playing sports after six months, some after nine, some 12. No one really knows until we start the rehab process and see how this thing heals.''
What we do know? He's been working on his swing for a while now, and it might be fine the way it is.
"I've been trying to adjust over the years to alleviate some of the stress I put on my left leg,''' he said. "Basically, my left knee has been sore for 10, 12 years.
"It'll be nice to finally have a healthy leg. Doctors have assured me my long-term health will be a heck of a lot better than it has been over the last decade, so I'm really looking forward to that and not feeling pain after I'm playing or while I'm playing.''
And no, he wouldn't have done anything differently.
"The reason I took [a] long layoff was to develop my hamstring,'' he said. "To give my leg more stability. People have played without ACLs and been very successful.
"Downhill skiers ski without ACLs, but they have extreme size glutes and hamstrings. I tried to do the same thing.''
It worked until the stress fractures.
Knee aside, Woods raved about the conditions for this year's AT&T National. Last year, tournament organizers had just over three months to pull the event together, and the greens weren't up to PGA TOUR standards. With an entire season to work on the 2008 event, Congressional Country Club is all polished and shiny for the holiday tournament.
"I think it will be another outstanding event,'' Tiger said. "We've got a good field, very deep. This year, we've had a whole year to get ready for it instead of 112 days, which was unprecedented.''
Congressional's board of directors has recommended extending the AT&T event through 2017 -- Tiger will be 41 -- and it will be put up to a vote by the membership.
"I'm very excited about board approval,'' he said. "Now it's up to the members to vote. I want our golf tournament to be there in perpetuity, in our nation's capital on our nation's birthday. The stars couldn't get aligned even more than what they are.''
The only thing missing -- other than the host, of course -- are most of the other top-ranked players, including Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott. Some players have opted to spend the Fourth of July with family, others are playing in Europe.
The host will be recuperating at home.
"I'll be laid up here watching it on TV,'' he said. "Those are the cards right now, have to deal with it.''
He'll have to miss the next two majors -- the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills -- and the Ryder Cup. It will be the first time he's missed a major as a professional, and he's played well at both Birkdale (where he finished one shot out of a playoff in 1998) and Oakland Hills.
As for the Ryder Cup? He leads the standings, and a number of players have said they would like to see him, if nothing else, in the team room as an assistant captain. Tiger said that's not likely.
"I'm not part of the team, unfortunately, I'm not on the team,'' he said. "It's about those 12 guys, not about me. I'm not a part of that crew."
Then again, it's early. The Ryder Cup is nearly three months away.
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FAN ZONE
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network