It's been 807 days since Tiger Woods won a PGA tournament on August 4, 2013, at the Bridgestone Invitational. That seems like a long drought for one of the greatest golfers of all time. But with his latest surgery, that drought may just continue, and no one, including Woods himself, knows for how long.
Though Woods hasn't even begun rehab for his September 16 back surgery, he's already expecting getting back to playing form will be a "long and tedious process," according to ESPN, and declined to give a recovery time line.
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Woods made the remarks during a news conference before the Bridgestone America's Golf Cup in Mexico City where he was scheduled to play with Matt Kuchar before pulling out because of his surgery.
"I'll start my rehab soon, but it's a long and tedious process," Woods said. "The last time, it took me a long time to come back. Some of the guys who have had it [microdiscectomy] done said it took them over a year to be pain free. I hope it doesn't take me that long to be pain free.''
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This surgery was the second on his back since receiving the same microdiscectomy surgery on March 31, 2014, which sidelined the pro for three months and eventually set him up to play in pain for most of 2015, his worst year as a pro.
During the press conference, Woods, 39, also made comments about his will to compete against the younger players (presumably referring to the likes of Jason Day, Jordan Speith and Rory McIlroy, who currently sit at numbers 1, 2, and 3 in the world respectively), saying, "I want to play at an elite level with the new kids for a long, long time."
As he gets older though, Woods is clearly becoming more aware of his age and what that might mean for his place in the golf history books, especially as compared to Jack Nicklaus, who holds the all-time record for professional major wins at 18.
"It's important for me to have more than 18 majors when all is said and done," Woods said at the same press conference. "It took Jack his whole career to achieve it and mine is not done yet. I believe that I have a very good record for 20 years on the tour."
Though Woods compared himself to the likes of Vijay Singh, who earned most of his wins (but only one major) in his 40s, earning those last few majors to tie the Golden Bear's 18 might be a tougher feat. Woods currently has 14 majors to his name, but the last time he won one was at the 2008 U.S. Open when he was 32. That seven (and soon to likely be eight) year gap is longer than any Nicklaus had between major wins. His longest drought was just six years between the 1980 PGA Championship and the improbably 1986 Masters win.
Of course, Tiger is only just about to turn 40, so he still has several years left before reaching the age Nicklaus was at during his 18th major win, but Tiger's play just isn't what it used to be. In fact, since that 2008 U.S. Open victory, Woods has either not played in or missed the cut at 12 out of 30 majors, with six of those 12 coming in the past two years alone. The rest of the time he averaged a 17th place finish.
For several years now, Woods has been battling various injuries, swing changes and surgery setbacks (not to mention personal turmoil). And while it's too early to count him out entirely, given the fact Woods will soon be entering rehab for the same back procedure in just a few years, it seems the body that allowed him to become the dominant golfer he once was just isn't there anymore.
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