Steiney "Proud" To Hear Tiger Is Listening To His Doctors**
That and revelations of Tiger wearing a protective boot in Ron Green Jr.'s report on Tiger's WD from the Wells Fargo Championship.
Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent, said Woods made the decision to bypass the Wells Fargo Championship on the advice of his doctors after meeting with them again this week.
“They told him it probably makes sense not to play,” Steinberg said. “It’s very minor but he’s listening to his doctor and I’m proud to hear that.”
Steinberg said Woods has not played golf since the Masters due to the injury and a trip to China. He said Woods hopes to play in The Players Championship in two weeks but will re-evaluate his condition again next week.
I'm guessing he wasn't proud to hear that Tiger used to listen to Dr. Leo Spaceman.
Geoff
**Good news and bad news in Mark Steinberg's comments to Doug Ferguson. Good? He puts the "proud" comment to bed and gives some context to what he was saying.
"This is precautionary. We're not at all concerned," said Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG. "He's just listening to his doctors, which is kind of nice. He certainly didn't listen to them before the U.S. Open in 2008."
The bad? According to Ferguson, Steinberg is claiming his client not hit a shot since the Masters. This and other videos would suggest otherwise.
Steinberg said Woods has been in a protective boot when he's moving around and has not hit a shot since the Masters. He said Woods considered playing the Wells Fargo until Tuesday.
Woods won at Quail Hollow in 2007 and had not finished worse than 11th in four appearances until a year ago when he missed the cut with his highest 36-hole score.
The following week is The Players Championship, which Woods won in 2001, although it is not among his favorite courses. He has finished in the top 10 only four times in 13 appearances and withdrew from the final round a year ago with a neck injury.
Steinberg said there was a "reasonable chance" Woods will be at The Players Championship.
"We'll do the same next week, do an early to midweek test to see if it's good enough where he can be hitting the ball," he said.
Reader Comments (44)
jb
Anyone else think that form of therapy would have been a good idea when he was married to Elin?
+1- very nice.
That aside, it astounds me the stupidity of the folks surrounding Eldrick. Over and over just the dumbest comments are uttered. I guess they're very good at making money, just not so good at telling it like it is: i.e., the truth.
At Wachovia: Mr. Woods, in addition to last year's tournament, how many others have you deliberately tanked?
At the Players: Mr Woods, hows that bulging d*ck, er I mean disk, doing these days?
No wonder Steiny is proud.
The self-esteem generation, raised on the overly enthusiastic congratulations and flattery of others whether warranted or not, has come of age. He has to be praised for acting in self-interest.
At one time, there was talk about there being a Woods entourage that was afraid to speak truth to him, and that he would not listen anyway. Certainly, his group failed him during "The Troubles" when Perkins was into "twofers" and nightly specials. Is he taking advice from those he trusts? Has he found someone that he trusts? Has he changed or does he just want us to think he has?
Tiger?
Second, that will teach him to try those huge, melodramatic, totally unnecessary, trick shots from now on. No body's impressed anymore Tiger - just try and hit the ball straight, OK?
Third, it's over Johnny.
I thought that Tiger was treating with Dr. Nick Riviera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqImkDgDwHU
Yeah, why should Team Tiger be concerned that he injured a surgically repaired knee? Typically asinine comment.
Hasn't he suffered enough?
Spare me the "hasn't he suffered enough" crap. That's the problem with Tiger - he has never suffered a day in his life, outside of losing his father that is.
I'm with Dr. Fager -- didn't Tiger once retool his swing to protect that knee from wear and tear? As seriously as he takes his conditioning, it has got to really worry him that the knee keeps breaking down.
As for Ahmed's advice, I prefer the gossipy old lady version: "If you don't have anything good to say, come and sit by me." Or, for the digital age, "If you don't have anything good to say, post a comment on my blog."
Tiger and his people have never ever given us accurate medical information, it is really a shame that the media has lapped it up; the "broken leg" (look up 'stress fracture' thing was a farce, the "pain at the USGA Open was when he swung too hard and did a "Pivot-Shift" (Look it up, it's medically correct) on his knee, his own damned fault. The general media in sports has not done its due diligence and has taken Woods & Entourage's word for it all for the sake of a few bucks.
He's no hero, he's not deserving of our attention and arguably not our sympathies as he has - despite being an astonishing golf talent - been a poor excuse for a human being from day 1. i.e. "Hello World", what a crock.
No problem.
Anyway, where have all the Tiger partisans gone? Used to be about 50:50 in these parts. Didn't it? /s
Now it's just a bunch of haters. Which is apparently synonymous with having a functioning bullshit detector.
Tiger's failings are well-chronicled both in this blog and elsewhere, and deservedly so. But his triumph at Torrey Pines remains one of the singular sports memories of my life-time.
I'm so glad Wood's Torry Pines performance was so impressive for you. And I must admit that watching all his flinching and grimacing and cursing and limping certainly let us all know just how much he was hurting. But you obviously never watched Hogan win the Open as a cripple or Venturi win the Open in heat stroke without all the histronics Woods displayed. They were men. They lived and played to a code that Eldrick never learned or even knew about. One day, long after we're all gone, somebody is going to notice that and make it right for whomever comes after us.
If you have an ACL deficient knee and snap your knee into hyper-extension because of a defective "modern" swing, it is your own fault. It only take self-discipline - rather absent in the subject in question. He grimaced and groaned like a little girl, he'd never make it as a hockey player up here in Canada.
You also didn't really bother to look up scholarly info on stress fracture either. Your loss, you could have gotten an edu-ma-cation.
Tiger = Your Reward. Just tell all the chicks how much you dig him.
If playing with relatively serious injury impresses you, you should watch the NHL playoffs. It is very common to play through injuries including fractures, ligament tears, and post-concussion syndrome. AND, these guys to it in an unsung fashion, keeping it quiet and doing their job as opposed to grimacing within view of the cameras in order to dramatize things.
Woods' achievement with his injury was very impressive. But, in some sports, it is very common, and while other players are trying to bash your head in.
As a result, when comparing Woods' feat to other sports in general, it is not overly notably. It has been done countless times before.
I was born in 1968 so I did not get to watch Hogan or Venturi (hence in my lifetime disclaimer), nor am I even remotely suggesting that they are comparable. I believe even Tiger demurred when someone tried to compare his performance to Hogan's, pointing out that Hogan didn't know whether he was even going to walk again, much less play. I said it was one of the most singular sports memories, not that he is the world's toughest man or that a statute should be built a la Payne Steward. The bottom line is that the Open at Torrey Pines was remarkable, and Tiger's limping around was one of the reasons there was such much drama.
And I love the NHL (diehard Hawks fan, so it's been a tough couple of days). But I think the comparison to other sports is specious. Golf is a mental game, and it is also a game where you are trying to get a little ball in hole hundreds of yards away. You don't have the support of your team-mates, and tournaments can be won or lost by a single shot, a single bad swing. I think it is quite impressive that, regardless of whether it was self-induced through a so called modern swing or otherwise, the guy was able to make swings knowing it was going to result in pain and win an Open doing it.
Look, there is plenty of legitimate fodder for those seeking to bash Tiger (his insufferable attitude, his pathetic team of "advisors," his behavior on the course, etc...), without reaching to fabricate other reasons.
With that said, I will put on body armor before the next volley is sent!
If you are a Hawks fan, look at the risk that Dave Bolland took last week coming back sooner than he should have from a bad concussion. AND, he almost singlehandedly supported his team, rather than the other way around as you postulated about team sports above, when he was not fully recovered yet taking huge chances to his health crashing the net area AND actually scoring goals that made a massive difference and almost leading to a miracle comeback to win the series.
Why am I bringing this up when you are the Hawks fan?
The reason you need body armour on this site is because you will get hit by pure objective facts like the ones I have just written.
To suggest that it is abusive when people counter you with good facts is a bit rich. I bet a leader like Jonathan Toews would agree.