Time is his friend here. Ernie Els returned from ACL surgery in about five months at the end of 2005 and outclassed a field in his native South Africa in his first start back, but he was still talking about the effects of the injury on his game 18 months later. There's no question he hasn't been the same player since busting up his knee while vacationing on the Mediterranean.
Faxon rushed and is still paying the price. Gill kept him on crutches for two months, a conservative measure but not a preventative one. "Every time I would stand still or stand up, my right foot would go numb," Fax says. "For a year and a half, I felt like a stork, putting all my weight on my left leg." Woods basically won a U.S. Open with only one good leg, but dominance knows better habits.
If the best golfer is the smartest golfer, intelligence and patience will prove synonymous in the case of Tiger Woods at Wounded Knee. Woods himself surely knows that. Three years after the fact, Faxon does, too.
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