(Miami) Tiger Woods is “still far” from a possible return to competition, he said on Saturday, nine months after the serious car accident in which his right leg was badly damaged.
Winner of 15 Grand Slam tournaments, Woods continues to train, but can not yet take the risk of making a normal swing, at high speed, and wants to avoid at all costs a relapse in full rehabilitation.
“Playing golf for a laugh is easy,” Woods told a reporter for the American channel NBC on the sidelines of the Hero World Challenge, a tournament he is organizing and sponsoring this week in the Bahamas, for the benefit of his Foundation.
“But playing on the circuit and being ready to play to score well against the best players, on the most demanding courses, is really another matter,” he added.
“I am still far from it. You will have to wait a while longer before seeing me on the circuit with the required level of play, ”concluded the Tiger, for his first public interview, on television, since his accident in February near Los Angeles.
Woods hit balls on Saturday with his 1 wood, but didn’t use the power he had in his Major wins.
“I can hit the ball, with any club, but it doesn’t go as far as it used to. There is not the required power. But I’m still not at the point where I can hear the ball drop, so it’s okay, ”joked the golf superstar.
Earlier this week, Woods told the magazine Golf Digest that he didn’t see himself returning full time to the US PGA Tour, but that he didn’t rule out participating in a few tournaments each year.
“I still have a lot of work to do. I fight, I work hard, but I am not at the end of my troubles, ”concluded the Tiger. He could still participate before Christmas in a charity tournament, with his family, with his son Charlie, according to some media.