Tiger Woods made quite a splash when he initially stepped into the professional golfing realm. Gradually, as his impressive play began to come to the forefront, fans and critics got awestruck by the legend. However, as the US icon is approaching the twilight of his career, things are not looking good. Having gone through several surgeries during the course of his golfing career, Woods is once again facing some serious health problems. The US golf icon recently underwent a disc replacement to relieve his back discomfort. 

And while the process of rehabilitation has been slower than expected, the rumor mills have instantly started churning. Most people have speculated about how the end of the road for Woods might be right now. However, despite all the negatives, one man who seemingfly still believes in a Tiger Woods return is none other than John Daly. Having seen Woods evolve from an exciting new talent to a full-grown legend, Daly had a lot to share ahead of Woods’ 50th birthday. 

Daly recently sat down with ‘Hard Rock Bet’, where he was asked to speak on his rivalry and friendship with Woods. Reflecting on the same, Daly gave his honest take on Woods’ current physical state. Wishing him a lot of best wishes on his upcoming birthday, Daly claimed that had Woods been free of injuries, he would have broken all of Jack Nicklaus’ records. “I always ask him how his health is and how he’s doing. Hopefully, we’ll see him on the Champions Tour a few times this coming year. But if he could just get healthy, Tiger probably would have broken all of Jack’s records.” Surely, this was a huge statement coming from Daly. However, as Woods has already won a whopping 82 PGA Tour Titles, what Daly said might not be too far-fetched. 

Moreover, Daly also recollected how he had met Woods for the first time when the legend was only 12. “I’ve just always respected him. I was 21 when I first met him—he was 12. We were playing the Big Insurance Youth Classic at Texarkana Country Club, and he shot 72. I think I shot 69.” Surely, one look at Woods, and Daly immediately knew that the kid would rule the world in future. 

“For us, I think it was a Ben Hogan event back then. Then it became a Nike, and now it’s Korn Ferry. But I just knew this kid had something special. And we haven’t gone out to dinner all the time and all that, but we text a lot.” Now then, it is evident that Daly is still hopeful about Woods returning to professional golf. Meanwhile, with the golfing realm waiting with bated breaths, Woods shared a small sneak peek of how things are at his end. 

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Tiger Woods opens up on rehab timeline as return delays continue 

Tiger Woods has been struggling with physical complications for quite some time. Him undergoing back-to-back surgeries and staying away from the competitive sphere even made many golf fans debate about the retirement of the 49-year-old. However, amid this, many golf enthusiasts are actually counting days to witness the golfing legend take a shot on the greens yet again. And recently, the 15-time major champion has himself reflected on the matter.

Many fans expected that Woods would finally make a return at his own event, at the Hero World Challenge. However, injury bound him to just the role of a host. Just two months back, he also underwent another surgery on his back. And while the American golfer is still recovering and trying to get back in the field, he shared an unfortunate update stating the recovery process is “not as fast” as he expected it to be.

Woods stated, “It [surgery] was a good thing to do, something I needed to have happen and it just takes time and dedication to the rehab process.” Tiger further added, “It [recovery] is not as fast as I’d like it to be. Not able to do much on a disc replacement to let it set. Can’t really do much. Now we got the OK to start cranking up a little bit in the gym, started strengthening and started doing a little bit more of the rotational component that I haven’t been able to do.”

Many fans also expected that the legend might make a return at the PNC Championship alongside his son, Charlie Woods. However, Woods still believes that his body needs more time to recover and get back to the greens. So he believed, “It wouldn’t be fair [to play].” 

The former world number #1 further explained, “Not only it wouldn’t be fair to my son, but it wouldn’t be fair to another team that could play and could have that experience that we’ve had for a number of years.” Now that the golfing realm still continues to wait for the legend to make a return, only time can tell how the upcoming days unfold for the PGA Tour maestro.