Golf Channel: Tiger To Have ACL Surgery**
/The unbylined report says he has a stress fracture and will have ACL surgery. Does that sound right?
**The official website version makes much more sense. Two different injuries, same knee. Wow. It's painful just thinking about it.
Tim Finchem issues a statement. I know you were on the edge of your seats...
“For an athlete as talented and competitive as Tiger Woods, taking the rest of the season off must have been an incredibly difficult, yet necessary decision, one that we understand and support completely. The fact that he needs additional surgery only makes his performance and victory at last week’s U.S. Open all the more impressive. First and foremost, our concern – as it would be for any of our players facing surgery or illness – is for Tiger’s health and overall well-being, both on and off the golf course. We wish him the best toward a speedy recovery.”
Haney was with him in Florida when doctors told Woods the preferred treatment for the stress fractures was three weeks on crutches and three weeks of inactivity.Tim Rosaforte considers the rehab timeframe and writes:
"Tiger looked at the doctor and said, 'I'm playing in the U.S. Open, and I'm going to win.' And then he started putting on his shoes," Haney said. "He looked at me and said, 'Come on, Hank. We'll just putt today.'"
What Woods did not discuss were the long-term affects of the injury; some of which is obvious, some undetermined. "If he wants to go after [Jack] Nicklaus' record, he'll need a good ACL reconstruction to do it," said Dr. Jim Bradley, team physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a foremost expert on knee surgery. "But this is not career threatening."And...
"It's like rebooting a computer," Bradley said. "In pro football, we say we get a guy back (from ACL reconstruction) in six months, but in fact, they're really not right until they go through a full season. It's almost a year's time before they're back to where they were beforehand."
