Tiger Woods said on Tuesday he's hitting "whatever shot you want" right now, which is good news. The bad news, however, is that he's unable to play the Hero World Challenge this week because he can't walk to hit the next one.

On Monday, Woods withdrew from the event which he hosts alongside his foundation, and on Tuesday, he gave an update on the plantar fasciitis that will keep him sidelined for the four-day tournament in the Bahamas.

"Well, it was a tough decision just because I want to play. I like playing, I like competing, but unfortunately, I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want, I just can't walk," said Woods. "And so I've had a few setbacks during the year that I still was able to somehow play through, but this one I just can't. ... only time can heal this one and stay off my feet and get a lot of treatment done.

"As I was ramping up and had to walk more, the worse it got. So when you get plantar fasciitis ... the worst thing you can do is walk, and I was walking more and more and more, trying to get my legs ready for this event, and I just kept making it worse."

That has been a theme throughout the year. When he's played, Woods has actually hit the ball fairly well given how little he's competed over the last two years. The issues have more surrounded endurance and physical stamina than the golf swing.

Though he demurred on any long-term issues, he did concede that the foot injury -- which is on the same right leg that was mangled in a car crash nearly two years ago -- was related to all of his other leg injuries. However, he still plans to play The Match on Dec. 10 and the PNC Championship on Dec. 17-18. He'll be able to ride in a cart at both events. 

"I can hit golf balls. It's the walking that just hurts. So ... when you've got plantar fasciitis, the only thing you can do is rest and try to stretch that out as best as possible, but it's rest. How do you rest when you're hosting a tournament? You know, it's hard. So this will be a tough week. The [PNC Championship] will be a very easy week, Charlie will just hit all the shots and I'll just get the putts out of the hole, so pretty easy there. But other than that, in the match we're playing in, we're flying in carts."

When asked, Woods adamantly noted that he would never consider applying to ride in a cart for a sanctioned PGA Tour event. So what does this setback mean for 2023? Probably nothing. Woods was only planning on playing 4-6 events anyway (the four majors and "one or two more"), which he still believes he'll be able to do, cart or not. Read Full Article


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 Date Published: November 29, 2022

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