Knee Jerk Reaction

The psychics will be called next week. For now, we're talking to doctors, nurses and hospital janitors about Tiger's knee.

I'm just shocked Bill Frist hasn't been quoted yet.

John Garrity talks to a mystery doctor who says we aren't getting the full story.

But the doc isn't sure that the Woods camp has been completely forthcoming about the famous patient's condition. "There's a couple of things that still don't make perfect sense," he said. "There's no such thing as a double stress fracture in a young, healthy person. I've been a knee surgeon for 25 years, and I've never heard of that, although it happens in old people.

"Furthermore, it's extremely hard to tear an ACL just running. It happens mostly in women — say, from running up and down a basketball floor. And a non-contact ACL, that's not likely to cause bone or cartilage damage."

An unbylined Independent report says he should only be out three months while Damon Hack compiles other medical experts and their forecasts.

Steve Elling hears from the crackpots who think Tiger was putting on an act.

According to this report from Australia, some sucker bet $252,300 that Tiger would win three majors. Nice try. Hope he got his room comp'd.

In the non-medical opinion division, John Antonini says that Tiger will still be ranked No. 1 even after 6-8 months off. I'm not sure if that's a statement about the rankings or how weak his competition is.

Thomas Bonk talks to Ty Votaw who sees lots of upside in us getting to familiarize ourselves with this month's next great player, Anthony Kim.

"We see a vast amount of potential for something that's drastically different than doom and gloom," Votaw said Thursday, one day after Woods said he was out for the year and needed surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

And the folks at FedEx are trying their best to put a positive spin on this...

"There is continued excitement surrounding the FedEx Cup and the strong play of the field of golfers promises to make this year's competition incredibly exciting," said Carla Boyd, a spokeswoman for FedEx.

Incredibly.

Comments

[duane]

I agree that the findings reported aren't the total picture. Why wasn't the ACL tear while running after the Open a year ago corrected with the operation 8 weeks ago after the 2008 Masters? If it was repaired he must have torn it again (by going out too soon?) at last week's championship.
How candid he is on the facts is his decision to make, he is entitled to whatever privacy desired. But going by the understated reports on his knee recovery prior to this year's US Open I would not be surprised if he isn't fully rehabilitated and ready by next year's Masters Tournament. That's about 10 months or more. And he shouldn't come back until he is maximally fit or he may cost himself even more future opportunities at winning majors.
Bottom line: he should follow his orthopedist's recommendations. He "know's his body", but he didn't train in orthopedic surgery.

[AZ]

I wonder if Tiger can still win the "Fed Ex Cup." That would be hilarious. Or does the "playoff" system preclude that? If so, it will be nice to see some needy golfer get the ten million bucks -- to everyone except Tiger, that's real money!

[kudzu]

Somebody please get a word with Rosenberg, please. Surely Tiger would let him talk to Ferguson.

[Phil_the_Author]

So some "mystery doctor" has said that Tiger runs like an old woman?

[Tommy Naccarato aka La Habra Art Department]

One of the more in tune observations on this was posted sometime ago on his blog, "Conspiracy Corner or Not? The Tiger Woods Knee Story - What You Need to Know"

"Redanman" Bill Vostinak's take on the entire knee issue. "Redanman" is a orthopedic surgeonof some repute; one of my dear friends and most a pretty much soothsayer glimpse of these goings on.

You'll have to read down to about 3/4 of the page to get to his post.

http://redanman.com/default.aspx

[Yougmanbirdie]

I've had two left knee surgeries in the last year. The first was a microfracture procedure to regrow cartilage, while the second was to remove scar tissue. Judging by the pain and swelling Tiger experienced, my guess is he has cartilage deficency iissues that will make it very difficult for him to train and practice like he has in the past, not to mention walk five or six rounds in a week, even after microfracture surgery. Mine has helped somewhat, but my knee is nowhere near 100%.

[Bob S.]

The one thing that the Tiger camp has been consistent about is giving information. As little as possible ...

So trying to be arm-chair doctors is really useless and if the state of the PGA Tour revolves around whether or not Tiger is telling the whole story on his knee, well, it is going to be a very boring 9-months on the PGA Tour ...

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Hey, Geoff. Nice snarky reference to the Terry Schiavo circus helped along by the former, unlamented Senator doctor from the Volunteer State. Look guys. There is no way anyone but Elin, Tida, Li'l Stevie, Mark Steinberg, and (maybe) his doctors will know what is really up with Tiger's knee. Give it a rest.

[Steve Wozeniak PGA]

His bad knee is the result of working on the wrong information, simple physics, he has been turning and spinning on his knee NOT unwinding onto it like all great moves.......I wonder when and where he learned to do this??? When he comes back he will start injuring it again unless he gets back to the simple fundamentals he learned as a kid.
www.stevewozeniak.com