When a video of Tiger Woods’s triumphant visit to new partner GolfTV’s headquarters started making the social media rounds on Thursday, it didn’t take long for the alarm bells to start ringing. Woods was noticeably stiff and appeared to be walking gingerly around the studio as he accepted well-wishes.
And as the deadline loomed to commit to the Wells Fargo Championship on Friday and there was still no word from Team Woods, Tiger fans went into full-blown panic mode. Something was definitely wrong with the Big Cat, right? The Wells Fargo host course, Quail Hollow, is a venue where Tiger has won before. It’s the most logical place to tune-up for the fast-approaching PGA Championship at Bethpage. Why wouldn’t he play?
When the news finally broke that Tiger would not be playing the Wells Fargo and would instead head straight from one major championship to another, the golf world seemed to collectively brace itself for confirmation of a new injury. But according to Woods’ longtime agent Mark Steinberg, we all need to cool our jets.
“Nobody should lose their mind over this,” Steinberg told ESPN’s Bob Harig. “[Tiger is] still digesting and appreciating what happened two weeks ago. Honestly, he’s just not ready to play right now. Look back at the transcripts from late last year and early this year. He’s not going to play as much. He’s just going to be smart about it.”
And as for that troubling video of Tiger’s labored gait? Steinberg has an explanation for that too.
“There’s a huge difference between being hurt and being sore,” he continued. “He’s sore after most tournaments he plays. He requires some downtime and doesn’t feel he has enough time to get ready for next week. And he regrets that he’s not going to be there.”
And there you have it. The year’s next major truly can’t come soon enough.
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