11 surgeries and three years of ordeal in hospitals and physiotherapists’ offices to repair the ankle shattered in a car accident in 2021 were not enough. Tiger Woods Give up your career and throw in the towel. The former best player in the world and one of the best in the history of the sport, who will turn 48 on December 30, will compete again. He will do this in the tournament supported by his foundation. Hero World Challenge, controversial as of this Thursday BahamasAnd even though I’m not a part of it PGA Tour It officially awards points for world rankings and brings together some of the great players on the circuit. Colin Morikawa, Cameron Young, Scottie Schefller or Justin Thomas

There was almost no news Tiger Woods since retiring in the past mastersalmost nine months ago. Days after the shocking images he experienced while walking with great difficulty augusta and with obvious signs of pain that forced him to leave the tournament, forest He returned to the operating room for another ankle reconstruction surgery, the eleventh of his career.

Surgery performed by the doctor Martin O’Malley inside New York HSS Sports MedicineAs the player explained at the press conference before joining the tournament, the subtalar fusion performed to relieve the arthritis he suffered from the broken bone was very positive. “I don’t feel the pain in my ankle that I had in August,” she said.

Since a traffic accident in which he left the road in a residential area outside the city. angels, While traveling at approximately 140 km/h, he hit a guardrail and rolled over several times. Tiger Woods He spent many more hours in hospitals than in the ‘greens’.

Since that fateful 2021, Californian He competed in only five tournaments and achieved success in four of them. He played four runs in his surprising return masters in 2022 and Creation Invitation. Withdrew from the championship PGAs Couldn’t pass e cutoff in 2022lSt. Andrews Open and also retired masters This is for 2023.

This latest operation was his last attempt to relieve the pain and continue playing golf at a professional level, and in his statements to the AP agency last month, he had already assured that his ankle was fine and the pain was gone. It seems hard to think about it forest, After a long six-month rehabilitation, he was able to compete with the big names on the circuit, but Hero World Challenge It’s the perfect opportunity to see him back on the field and compare how well his recovery is going.

“What motivates me is to compete. There will come a time that has not yet fully arrived, and there will come a time when I cannot win again. “And when that comes, I will retire,” he confessed, and the media gave him the following example: Rafael Nadal with whom he had a good relationship and attempted to return to activity following his surgery.

“What Rafa (Nadal) did is extraordinary. He won the Australian Open with a broken foot. He’s more than a tough guy and he’s more than competitive. He knows it’s ‘daddy time’. All athletes face this. In some sports this happens earlier than in others, and unfortunately in all sports age overtakes us. Just as I don’t want to see him at all, I don’t want to see him retire either. Federer To leave”.

forest He admits that rehabilitation has been complicated (“the first two months were really tough”), but he has recently become much more active and takes part in his foundation’s clinic. pebble beach and acts as judge for his son, CharlieHe is taking part in the junior tournament and his idea is to gradually return in 2024, playing one tournament a month, something of a miracle after an accident that almost cost him his life.