Love him or hate him, Tiger Woods is arguably the most recognizable face on the PGA Tour, and all eyes were on him to see how he would perform at The Masters this weekend. Woods was able to tie a Masters record by making his 23rd consecutive cut at the tournament, but he didn’t finish all 72 holes after suffering an aggravation of his previous plantar fascia issue.
Woods took to Twitter to explain why he was withdrawing from the event on Saturday and to express gratitude for the fans who came out to cheer him on at Augusta National.
I am disappointed to have to WD this morning due to reaggravating my plantar fasciitis. Thank you to the fans and to @TheMasters who have shown me so much love and support. Good luck to the players today!
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) April 9, 2023
Tiger’s Injury And His Future
Tiger looked physically strong when he teed off on Thursday, but the course and the weather conditions eventually took their toll on Tiger, and he was visibly hobbled by early Saturday. Apparently the discomfort in his foot was so unbearable that he decided that his best option was to withdraw, even though he had already noted that he doesn’t know how many Masters tournaments he has left in him.
This isn’t the first time that Woods has been bothered by the plantar fascia issue, and we even wrote about the original injury when it first made headlines. In that blog in December, we mentioned that Woods was hopeful to avoid surgery for the plantar fasciitis condition that had been bothering him. He stated that he had been sleeping with a foot brace and that his condition had been steadily improving. He was able to avoid surgery, but that may not be the case this time around.
While we’ll know more about his current injury in the coming days, it certainly seems more likely that Woods will pursue surgery this time around. He clearly has the mindset that he wants to avoid surgery if at all possible, but the aggravation may prompt him to address the matter surgically. Obviously he would like to compete in the major tournaments during the rest of the year, but if he’s going to attempt to be fully healthy for one tournament a year, it would be for The Masters, so with that in the rearview mirror, Woods may opt to put his health first.
It may be possible for him to make another strong recovery with conservative techniques and bracing at night, but it’s going to take some time. Regardless of whether or not he pursues surgery, odds are Tiger will take some time away from the sport to work on his health. Until we have more information, we can’t really speculate on when we may see him next, but we don’t expect him to come back until he has restored confidence in his foot.
