Tiger Woods Made The Masters Cut & Gutted Out 3 More Major Starts With Back Spasms Bad Enough To Require Yet Another Surgery

The legend of Tiger Woods continues. If there's an athlete with more competitive spirit than this guy, I don't know who it is. Tiger unfortunately announced on Friday that he underwent his umpteenth different back surgery to address back spasms that plagued him for "most" of this past season. https://twitter.com/TigerWoods/status/1834666637687243063 Since he only teed it up at the four major championships, it's rather safe to assume Tiger — who does his best to downplay injuries until he discloses his latest medical procedures in press releases — had almost no business being on the course given the state he was in. Nevertheless, tireless competitor that he is, the Tiger we know and love who's addicted to the grind stuck it out for a 60th-place finish on the weekend at The Masters, then put his best foot forward to play each of the next three majors. Given what we know now about how rough of shape he was in, it's pretty impressive that Tiger was mere fractions off during the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, and a few shots here or there could've easily gotten him inside the cut line. However, he wasn't close by any measure at the PGA Championship (+7 through 36 holes; the cut was -1) or The Open (+14; cut was +6). Tiger keeps insisting during interviews that he won't be in the field of any given tournament unless he believes he has a chance to win. That shows the inextinguishable self-confidence that drove him through myriad injury rehabs and to 15 major titles, along with 82 PGA Tour victories. There's a DraftKings poll right below Tiger's X post, and it's about 75/25 toward the "No" answer as to whether he'll ever contend at a major again. https://twitter.com/DKNetwork/status/1834671035934793863 In Tiger's first start of 2024, it was reported that he withdrew from the Genesis Invitational due to illness , which was actually of some relief if only because it wasn't injury-related. Turns out, injuries were a persistent problem all season for him. None of this comes as a massive shock. We all know Tiger has to max out on a physical therapy routine just to be in decent-enough shape to compete. I just don't know how much longer he can do this to himself. His comeback across 2018 and 2019, culminating in that unforgettable Masters win, was all-time stuff. That was basically half a decade ago, prior to an awful car accident that almost led to a leg amputation. https://twitter.com/kclairerogers/status/1834668041692750063 Will I ever write Tiger off, though? Nope. As you'd expect, the final two words of his statement left a flicker of hope that he may have one more magical run left in the tank. Its truly incredible that he intends to keep going. How about a Prime Tiger stinger compilation as a palate cleanser? https://twitter.com/Skratch/status/1209523609187835904