Tiger Woods’ new normal a balancing act of rehab, rest

ALBANY, Bahamas – Tiger Woods, who will miss this week’s Hero World Challenge because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, got a new question at his press conference Tuesday:

“There are 206 bones in the body. Do you know each one of them by now?”

Woods, who will be 47 on Dec. 30, laughed and shook his head.

“No,” he said. “But I know each one that hurts, OK?”

The unofficial Hero, which benefits Woods’ foundation and which he has won five times, has always served as a de facto State of the Tiger get-together. Before we turn the page on the calendar, it’s a time for Woods to sit before the press and answer questions about his win streaks, major titles, swing changes, dominance.

Now, though, the main topic is human frailty.

“Well, it was a tough decision just because I want to play,” Woods said. “… Unfortunately, I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want, I just can’t walk.”

Would he have considered taking a cart this week if he’d been allowed?

“On the PGA TOUR, no,” he said. “I think walking is an integral part of the game at our level.”

The only fix, he added, is to receive treatment and, most crucially, stay off his feet.

He will ride in “The Match,” a 12-hole tilt under the lights at Pelican Golf Club in Belleaire, Florida on Dec. 10 (TNT, 6 p.m.). He and Rory McIlroy will take on unbeaten Presidents Cup duo Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

Woods will also ride, and not hit every shot, as he plays with son Charlie at the father-son PNC Championship at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, Grande Lakes, Dec. 15-18.

He said the plantar fasciitis is a residual effect of the severe injuries he suffered in a single-car accident in Los Angeles in early 2021. He has teed it up three times this year, making the cut at the Masters Tournament (47th), making the cut but withdrawing at the PGA Championship, and missing the cut at The Open Championship.

He went into The Open, he said Tuesday, thinking he could win. “I was doing everything right” he said, “and then, all of a sudden … my leg just wasn’t working properly.”

Although his health has improved since July, he said, it’s still not where it needs to be. And so he continues to toe the line between working his way back to health and working so hard that he inadvertently makes himself worse.

“It's a balancing act, right?” he said. “How hard do you push it to make progress while not pushing it too hard to go off the edge and you set yourself back two, three days, and that's been the balancing act the whole year. And trying to do that, get ready for this event, I did a lot of beach walks trying to simulate the sand out here and my foot just did not like that very much.”

For Woods, the winner of 82 PGA TOUR events, including 15 majors, this is the new normal.

“The goal is to play just the major championships and maybe one or two more,” he said. “That's it. I mean, physically that’s all I can do. … I don’t have much left in this leg.”

When he does play, he continued, he’ll just hope to catch lightning in a bottle and remember how to close. It will be hard, he added, relegating himself to tournament hosting duties this week.

“When I was at home,” he said, “I was shooting 4, 5, 6, 7 under par like it was nothing, but I was in a cart. Now you add in walking and that goes away.”

When it returns, so will Woods, but for now the wait continues.