One of the most talented golfers to step on a golf course, Tiger Woods ’ name inarguably boosted golf as a sport since his rise to stardom at the age of 19 with a 12-stroke record-breaking demolishing of the field in his first PGA tour win.
However, Tiger Woods has had over 25 publicly acknowledged major injuries since 1994. This number is most likely higher on account of the privacy surrounding Tiger’s medical and public relations team throughout his career. This research is according to our golf data sources at TellMeMoreGolf.com.
In this article, I will cover the past injuries, recent competitiveness, age, including the swing mechanics of Tiger Woods, and how they all answer the question: Can He Win Another Major?
Tiger Woods’ Past Injuries
Tiger Woods has a long history of injuries dating back to before being a pro. Along with the multiple back surgeries and vertebrae issues before his most recent leg shattering car accident in 2021, he is known for playing through injuries on the golf course.
Who could forget the famous photo of Tiger on all fours from back spasms holding his club at The Barclays in 2013?
Tiger ended up winning the 2006 American Express Championship playing through a left shoulder injury, so not all these injuries are tournament ending.
Woods suffered a neck injury in his 2009 Floridian single-car crash, where he later acknowledged he used Ambient but didn’t directly answer if the sleep prescription played a role in his crash.
Ever since his knee surgeries in 1994 and 2002, he’s ruptured ligaments, underwent cartilage arthroscopy, ended his season with ACL surgery in 2007, and sprained a medial collateral ligament sprain in his left knee. It’s safe to say he’s had quite a few knee surgeries!
In 2010, Tiger’s public relations team finally disclosed an Achilles’ tendon injury he suffered through in 2008. After struggling with his Achilles’ tendon in 2011, the next year Woods had to withdraw from the final round of the WGC Championship with an injury to the same tendon.
In 2019, Woods had his ligament damaged in his left knee in 2019, undergoing surgery as a response. How he incurred this injury is still a mystery.
Tiger Woods missed the 2013 AT&T National Golf Even with an elbow injury.
From back spasms in 2013 on the course, to similar issues during the Honda Classic in 2014, he’s missed the Masters’ due to pinched nerves and even failed to make the cut after a back injury that August. The year after he had a second back surgery, giving him a difficult time on the course for multiple seasons until his surprise victory at the 2019 Masters. His fifth back surgery took place in 2021 in order to depressurize a disk fragment pinching his nerve in his back.
The most recent Leg injury as of 2021 was a multiple leg shattering car crash, destroying one of his ankles in the process.
How well has Tiger Woods played in the last 5 years?
Tiger Wood s’ performance in the last 5 years as of 2021 has always hinged on his injury prone body, and its likeliness to fail.
After Tiger Woods ’ back problems through 2016 and 2017, he finished one shot back and tied for second, his first top-five finish on the PGA Tour since 2013. Playing better and better from tournament to tournament, he won his first major championship in eleven years. The summer after the win, he celebrated with yet another knee surgery and arthroscopic procedure.
He went on to his 82nd win on Tour over Hideki Matsuyama in 2019 at the Zozo Championship, but afterwards had a fifth microdiscectomy surgery.
In the last 5 years, Tiger Woods has had 13 top 10’s. Not bad for an athlete of his caliber, but Tiger’s age Is starting to catch up with him.
Tiger Woods’ Age?
Age is a part of the answer to whether he can win another major. He’s not a young kid anymore. When he’s on, he’s lights out, even with a competitive field. Just the staggering number of serious injuries he’s accrued, and his age has clearly been weighing Tiger down his talent on the course.
He won the Masters two years ago, so he’s shown that he can recover.
His surprise success was before his leg injuries in February 2021. Shattering your ankle and fracturing your legs is just as hard to recover from if not harder than serious back injuries.
His Swing Mechanics
The legs are the most important part of generating power for a golf swing.
Tiger Woods clearly works-out a lot, but you need legs that can do a power kick and sustain a large amount pressure for small, short bursts.
Woods’ downswing must have a good leg kick for maintaining your balance, power, distance, and timing.
The swing demonstrated throughout Tiger’s career has not been graceful, but extremely violent, generating tons of force at expense of his muscular and bone structure.
He must adjust his swing mechanics. Tiger’s swing speed is very high, around 125 mph, which begs the question will he even be able to adjust his mechanics EVEN if he’s available to recover completely.
Will Tiger Woods be able to spend 8 hours on the putting and chipping green like he did before?
He is renowned for spending his entire days chipping, putting, hitting balls and working out. But if his leg doesn’t recover, will he be able to hit practice balls for two hours? Will he be able to hit 200 drives at a time as a part of his routine?
Tiger Woods has never been known for being an accurate driver of the ball, so after all of his injuries and growing age, I wonder if he will get his tempo up to his normal driver swing speed? Will he be able to adapt his game to where his body is now?
Conclusion: Will Tiger triumph in another PGA tournament?
No: weighing the numerous catastrophic injuries to his knees, back, and now legs and ankle fractures, only 13 top 10s in the last 5 years against his sheer talent is a tough ask for my research. While he has had success in the last 5 years, those wins came after multiple years of elite level play on the PGA Tour.
Tiger Woods ’ age and body means that if he does choose to come back to elite form, are there just too many obstacles stacked against him in order for him to win another PGA tournament.