Tiger's Knee

Terry Smail of Seattle, who has had a little experience in the area, writes about Tiger's knee.

I am very worriedâ¿¿about Tiger's left knee. I've had 10 knee operations—5 'open' procedures including a total knee replacement two years ago and 5 arthroscopy surgeries. Despite all of that, I still play to a nine handicap. Arthroscopic knee surgeries are normally a piece of cake—quick recovery and not too much disruption of the knee capsule. Even with the left knee, which undergoes considerable torque during the golf swing, a player should be able to play golf normally within two to four weeks. The reports of Tiger wearing a brace, and not being able to come back to competition within 6 -8 weeks is indicative of something far more serious than a simple cartilage issue. That does not portend well for his future or for the popularity and the economic health of golf. >

Tiger answered a number of questions about the knee and his re-hab in Wednesday's AT&T National press conference, available at tigerwoods.com. Mark Soltau reported Jack Nicklaus's comments about his communication with a Woods camp on whether Tiger would play in the Memorial. Jack said Tiger "went out and tried to play Thursday and couldn't. He said he couldn't put the weight on his knee, couldn't turn it."

Tiger was emphatic about playing in the Open, however: "The rehab is working. It gets really old riding that bike, man. But everything is on schedule. Just trying to get this thing organized for the Open. Right on schedule for that." And when it came up again: "I'm playing."

--Bob Carney