Tiger Woods: We’ll wait and see on Brooks Koepka injury
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Health could impact U.S. team's captain's picks for Presidents Cup
Written by Staff
For The Cup
Tiger Woods says he’s taking a wait-and-see approach on Brooks Koepka, who slipped on wet concrete and reinjured his knee at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES last week.
Woods, who will captain the U.S. Presidents Cup Team that will take on the International Team at Royal Melbourne in December, is monitoring Koepka after the world No. 1 hurt himself and withdrew from THE CJ CUP, where he was the defending champion.
Should Koepka not be able to play, Woods would get a fifth captain’s pick.
“As of right now, we’re just waiting on what the surgeon says and what Brooks is going to do,” Woods told Golfweek during the Wednesday pro-am at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Chiba, Japan. “He is getting other opinions on what are his options. You want to go through as many different opinions as you possibly can before you decide what you are going to do.
“I told him to take his time,” Woods added. “No hurry. You’re part of the team. You earned your way in the top eight spots. You’re on the team. You have to figure out what is best for your career and your knee and if you decide you can’t play, great. I totally understand. We’ll cross that bridge when it comes.”
Dustin Johnson is coming back from knee surgery, as is Woods himself. He considered having his left knee operated on for the fifth time in late 2018, but wanted to play a full schedule last season and put it off. He won the Masters Tournament, fell off quickly after that, and after failing to qualify for the season-ending TOUR Championship two months ago, had the arthroscopic procedure done Aug. 20.
Every since being named U.S. Captain, Woods has looked like a potential playing captain at the Presidents Cup. Getting the surgery, he said, kept that possibility in play.
“The way I was feeling towards the middle part of the year,” he said earlier this week, “it was going to be a tall order to be able to do it all. Started to struggle with it, it started affecting my back and the way I was walking and trying to play, trying to read putts and all of the above.
“I’m excited about having this end-of-the-year run where I’m feeling much more fit and I don’t have the achiness that I’ve been dealing with for the last couple years,” he added.