This Is (Probably) the End: Tiger’s latest big injury feels different
Injuries have been the constant in Tiger Woods’ career since 2008, when he supermanned his way through a left knee injury to win an all-time U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Some of those injuries have been severe — his constant back ailments, his disfigured right leg after a 2021 single-car crash — so it’s not new to wonder if Woods’ competitive playing days might be over. But this time feels different.
Woods had surgery Tuesday to repair his ruptured left Achilles tendon, the same tissue that bugged him many injuries ago in 2011 and ‘12. He is out indefinitely. You should not expect to see him play in the majors this year. In 2024, he played in all four but missed cuts everywhere but the Masters. His only other start was at his own tournament, where he withdrew in the middle of the second round because of illness.
Tiger is Tiger, but the human body is the human body, and his will be 50 next season. That was Phil Mickelson’s age when he became the oldest major winner ever in 2021. But in the run-up to that, Mickelson was playing 20-plus PGA Tour events every year to get into form. Tiger will have made 14 starts in five years, and he’s been crystal clear that he’s not interested in playing events as a de facto mascot with no chance to win. Granted, his vision of his chances might be different than yours or mine, but it would make sense for Woods to just be done now.
Is that too fatalistic an outlook for the 15-time major winner? I asked Brendan Quinn, a senior enterprise writer at The Athletic who’s covered Woods for years:
💬 Maybe I’m naive, but I accepted Tiger’s competitive end point long before this latest surgery. He has said countless times in recent years that his body can no longer endure the practice regimens required to play against the best players in the world. I always heard that as him saying he can’t win, even if he can’t say those actual words out loud.
Woods still has a lot of irons in the fire. He has his new simulator league, an apparel brand that just signed its first non-Tiger player, a golf course design business, a tournament he hosts, and an active role in PGA Tour governance. What happens to his influence when he’s done playing?
💬 Tiger will not be going anywhere because the world won’t let him. Golf certainly won’t. In other sports, new transformative figures come along and allow the last guy to slide back. Jordan begat Kobe. Kobe begat LeBron. In golf? Is the person who can approach Tiger’s star power even born yet? Maybe? Realistically? Probably not.
He’ll remain the on-course measuring stick, too. Scottie Scheffler is barely one-third of the way to Tiger’s 281-week record streak atop the Official World Golf Ranking. Second place on that list? Also Tiger. Read Brody Miller for more on that.
