Woods feels back surgeries have hampered his career

Woods has had three back surgeries, and that is a problem for his future. Before his withdrawal from the Dubai Desert Classic last week in Dubai, Tiger Woods sat down with former R&A CEO Peter Dawson to discuss his rehab, his injury history and his future.

“It was more than brutal,” said Woods of his 17 months between PGA Tour events. “There were times where I physically didn’t know if I could get out of bed. There were times when I needed help just to get out of bed. Two of the most important people in my life kept my spirits up every day, my kids.”

“There were plenty of times when I never thought I would play the game at an elite level. Playing once every three or four weeks, that’s not going to cut it. There were a lot of times when I thought I wasn’t going to make it back.”

Woods has noted this before. If you remember seeing him at the Hero World Challenge in December 2015, his face basically said all of this without any words coming out of his mouth.

Dawson then asked him how he felt right now, and Woods gave an interesting answer.

“I feel good, not great,” said Woods. “I don’t think I’ll ever feel great because it’s three back surgeries and four knee operations. I’m always going to be a little bit sore, that’s just the way it is. As long as I can function at a good enough level, I’m fine with that.”

This is what we should probably expect from a 41-year-old who has had this many operations on his body, but it still feels weird to hear the words come out of Tiger’s mouth, doesn’t it? This man was superhuman at one point, and now he’s wincing as he sits in a chair by the sea.

Woods also looked forward to Augusta and the Masters. For him, this was always the end game.

“The whole plan was to get my body, mind and spirit ready for that first full week in April,” Woods told Dawson. “I’ve done it four times, I’d love to do it a fifth.”

He’s currently a long way from making that happen.

• Culled from www.cbssports.com