It’s been two years since Daniel Berger last stepped on PGA National. At the 2022 Honda Classic – now Cognizant Classic after the IT & Consulting giant took over the title sponsorship mantle – Berger tied for fourth place. However, the 30-year-old admitted he was performing only “at 50 percent”, courtesy of the back injury. 

Honda Classic was sort of a signpost for Berger. That T4 was the last of his better performances before injury took a heavy toll on his form, eventually forcing him out of the greens for 19 months. Once again, back at the PGA National, the Jupiter resident revealed why he had to take a break.

Daniel Berger was in pain all the time

The 2022 Honda Classic, sort of, started the last half of his injury-ridden struggles. “That was essentially the start of when I started feeling the stuff in my back, and kind of the last half of the portion that I played in 2022 leading up to the U.S. Open where I stopped playing, I never felt great.”

Berger had a lone top-ten finish in the next seven events. The T50 in the Masters and two missed cuts at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open were telling. At that point, doing day-to-day activities became an ordeal in itself. “I was in pain all the time, and then I got to a point where I was just like, this is just not worth playing. My everyday life sucks, and I’m just struggling to play a golf tournament,” the 30-year-old added.

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That meant Daniel Berger had to make a choice. “You can’t win a golf tournament when you can only do 25 percent of what you’re used to doing. That’s where I really made the decision to step back.” In fact, he was struggling at the 2022 Honda Classic as well. “Even when I played here in 2022, I was at 50 percent, and that’s not a level that you can compete at day in and day out,” Berger told the press persons.

Eventually, on Luke Donald’s advice, Berger traveled to Canada to Stuart McGill. He got to know that a slight bulge in the lower disc and deep bone sensitivity was the root cause of his troubles. Rather than surgery, Berger let the body heal itself. A lot has changed since then. 

How Berger prepares for tournaments now

The 30-year-old admits he is at 100 percent now. But that doesn’t mean everything went back to how it was before. Berger has to walk the extra mile before every event. “I would say in years past there was wake up, go to the range, hit balls, go to the tee, and now it’s a lot more process-oriented. There’s a lot more work that goes into it. I feel like there’s a different level of professionalism that I bring to it now than I did in years past,” Berger added. 

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Comparing himself with the veterans of the game, Daniel Berger said, “It’s part of what it takes to get out there and play, and I think you see the guys that have been out here for a long time, those are the guys that are doing those things. The Justin Roses, the Stuart Cinks, the Padraig Harringtons, those are the guys putting in the work so they can feel good and be ready to go, and I feel like that’s part of it for me, and it wasn’t so years ago.”

Cognizant Classic will mark the fourth outing of Berger after coming back from injuries. In his last outing at the WM Phoenix Open, the Florida University alum tied for the 28th spot.

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