The golfer severely injured his right leg in a 2021 car accident.
Tiger Woods is giving an update on his recovery one year after his car crash. During a Wednesday press conference at the Genesis Invitational, the 46-year-old golfer revealed that there's still no time table for his return to the sport.
"I wish I could tell you when I'm playing again. I want to know, but I don't. My golf activity has been very limited," Woods explained. "... I'm still working on the walking part. My foot was a little messed up there about a year ago, so the walking part is something that I'm still working. I'm working on strength and development in that."
"It takes time. What's frustrating is it's not on my time table," he continued. "I want to be at a certain place, but I'm not. I've just got to continue working. I'm getting better, but not at the speed and rate that I would like. You add in the age factor too and you just don't heal quite as fast, which is frustrating."
Though he's not healing as fast as he'd like, in December, Woods did return to the golf course at the PNC Championship in Orlando, Florida, alongside his 13-year-old son, Charlie.
"I knew that I could play. I can still play, but I'm in a cart. Being a weekend warrior is easy. That's not that hard," he said. "Hit your ball, hop in a cart, ride, barely step out of your cart, grab your glove, hit the next one... I can do that. That's not that hard. But walking a golf course, that's a totally different deal."
"I can walk on a treadmill all day, that's easy. It's just straight, there's no bumps in the road, but walking on a golf course... I have a long way to go," Woods added. "My leg was not in a very good position there about a year ago and I've had to work through a lot of different operations and a lot of different scenarios. It's been tough, but I've gotten here, I've gotten this far, but I still have a long way to go. Each and every day's a fight. I welcome that fight. I get up in the morning, let's go a few more rounds."
His experience at the PNC Championship did give Woods hope, but not in the way many may assume.
"I went through a very difficult year last year and it gave me hope to be able to play with my son again, and to be able to have fun with him," Woods said. "... I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything. We had two of the greatest days ever together, just he and I."
Since the PNC Championship, Woods said he has "seen progress" in his game, noting that he's "a lot stronger" now and is even "able to hit more shots." Still, his right leg, which was injured in the crash, is forever "altered" and "does not look like my left."
"Will I come back? Yes. Will I come back and play a full schedule? No... That will never happen again. I can play certain events here and there, but on a full-time level, no, that will never happen again."
When it comes down to it, though, Woods feels "very lucky" that he still has the limb at all. He revealed last November that amputation was considered after his accident.
"I didn't know if I was going to have the right leg or not. To be able to have my right leg still here, it's huge. I still have a lot of issues with it, but it's mine and I'm very thankful for that," he said. "... The PT sessions are brutal, but it's still mine, and I'm very thankful for that."
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