Morikawa Finds His Putting Stroke And Scores Impressive WGC Win

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When reigning PGA Champion Collin Morikawa is putting well, well, he’s tough to beat.

From Ryan Lavner’s GolfChannel.com story at the WGC Workday at The Concession, a late replacement event for the WGC Mexico City.

For the week, Morikawa ranked 10th in the field in putting, gaining nearly four shots on the field – the second-best putting week of his Tour career, behind only the PGA.

“His putting stroke looks unbelievably good,” Horschel said.

So why is this not just another hot streak? Why does he feel confident that these weeks can be the norm, not the exception?

“Now I feel confident I can take the stroke out of play and I can just really focus on speed, I can focus on the line, how do I get that ball to fall in the hole where I want it,” Morikawa said. “That’s what’s really exciting for me.”

Morikawa turned things around thanks to a move to a saw putting grip Mark O’Meara taught him two weeks ago.

Golf.com’s Nick Piastowski with an explanation and the backstory. Oh, and how it’s different than a claw grip.

The saw keeps his putter square. For a right-hander like Morikawa, the left hand grips the putter a bit like it would the other clubs, with the thumb pointing down the shaft. The right hand is the “saw,” which O’Meara described in a 2008 video for Golf Channel as “my top three fingers are on the top of the putter, my pinkie is just on the back edge of the putter and my thumb is around the back side.”

A few notes courtesy of the PGA Tour communications team:

  • Made 27 birdies, most of any player in the field; most birdies in a WGC stroke-play event is 29, by three players (Scott McCarron/2002 Workday Championship/6th, Martin Kaymer/2013 HSBC Champions/T8, Hideki Matsuyama/2016 HSBC Champions/Won,)

  • Led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach The Green (9.544) and Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (12.526

  • Morikawa joins Tiger Woods as the only players to win a major and WGC before turning 25

  • No player has won multiple tournaments through 20 weeks, the longest streak to start a season since 1994 (Nick Price won his second tournament in the 21st week of the season)

  • Scottie Scheffler finishes highest among the five players in the field who competed at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Championship at The Concession Golf Club

  • Seven bogey-free rounds recorded during the week, but none in the final round

Morikawa’s early career is shaping up to be impressive historically:

This also makes it back-to-back weeks for Cal golf, with Max Homa winning last week’s Genesis Invitational.

Tiger Tribute Prompts Utterly Bizarre Backlash

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Tiger owns the color red.

He earned it by winning often and decisively.

No one in their right mind—other than Patrick Reed—dares to wear red and black on a Sunday.

It’s quite charming that his peers have essentially said no to the color out of deference to Tiger’s traditional power color expression inspired by his mom.

In light of this, few golfers travel with or wear red shirts.

So when Woods was seriously injured last Monday in a car wreck it was hardly a shock to learn players were not prepared for an impromptu salute during Sunday’s WGC final round. This somehow did not stop an unusually large number of lunatics from grousing on social media about players not partaking in the homage to Woods.

Last week’s winner, Max Homa, took particular grief for not violating his apparel and logo deals (see Tweets below). This, even though he spoke so beautifully of Tiger’s importance just a week ago when winning the Genesis Invitational hosted by Woods.

Collin Morikawa felt the need to explain why he was not in red and hopefully he’ll avoid the angry mob since his sponsor tried to get him somethign.

From Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com:

Tournament winner Collin Morikawa said that he had planned to wear a red shirt on Sunday, but that the shipment from Adidas got stuck in Memphis because of weather issues. His caddie even went to the distribution center to check if it had arrived. When it became clear that the shirts wouldn’t get here before his tee time, Morikawa instead settled for black pants.

“My agent said that even though the shirt wasn’t there, go out and play like Tiger would with the lead,” Morikawa said. “I think I did.”

Either way, the tribute went just fine Sunday supported by those who were able to get a red shirt from Nike even if the pattern screamed, the “red shirt Tiger said no f’ing way to.”

But more vital than any of this nonsense, Tiger saw the tribute from his room at Cedars Sinai and that’s really all that matters.

The PGA Tour put together this nice tribute of Tiger moments interspersed with players who wore red and black Sunday:

Phil Mickelson chose to go with a red shirt and kept his logo’d sweater on above it, explaining that he had to do a little shopping:

Branden Grace Dedicates Puerto Rico Win To His Late Father

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While local favorite Rafael Campo finished three back, the Puerto Rico Open got a fine winner in Branden Grace. The AP game story from Rio Grande.

The world No. 83 posted a bogey-free 66 to claim his second PGA Tour win and a two-year exemption.

The victory comes five weeks after losing his father, Peter, to complications associated with COVID-19. He spoke movingly about his father after the win:

Rahm On Green Reading Books: "I don’t think they should be allowed."

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Apologies for missing this from Jon Rahm’s Wednesday WGC Workday/The Concession press conference but given his status in the game and views it’s never too late to point out his comments on green reading books.

The full exchange is interesting:

Q. Jon, I had some super golfing questions for you. Dustin said that with the detailed greens books, it's actually easier to learn a golf course these days than in the past. You might even be able to figure out a golf course before you even get here. I'm just curious, do you think that negates some of the challenge or perhaps even some of your advantage of having some prior golf course knowledge?

JON RAHM: You mean the greens books like the little map with all the slopes?

Q. Yeah. All the charting is so good now that he basically figured it out before he even arrived on site.

JON RAHM: Well, I don't use those books.

Q. How come?

JON RAHM: My caddie gets them. I don't look at them because I just--I'm a feel player, I trust what I see. If I have a question, I'll ask him, and he might look at it if we're in doubt. I've never spoken of this, I have to be honest, I don't think they should be allowed. That's my opinion. I think being able to read a green and read a break and understand the green is a talent, it's a skill that can be developed, and by just giving you the information, they're taking away from the game. Again, I think being able to read greens and understand greens, it's a talent, it's part of the game, and like I said, it's a skill that can be developed or not. So that's my take on it.

Besides the de-skilling and dumbing-down component at a time the governing bodies are reviewing those matters, there is the horrible optic of a professional golfer staring at their little cheat sheet on national TV while we wait for them. The situation has been made worse (not better) by the rule change restricting rendering sizes.

Essentially the only people wanting to keep them in the professional game profit from their creation and sales.

Elliott Heath at GolfMonthly pointed out Rahm’s remarks and also reminded me of Ian Poulter’s very prescient Tweet in 2017 taking a similar stance:

Before We Leave The Concession...

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Before we move on from The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, a salute is in order for putting on a good short notice show with the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession (just imagine, the first tee announcer repeated that doozy all day!).

While the architecture leans a little too artificial and overbuilt for my taste, the course appeared to give players plenty of fun problems to solve. It’s not clear if this is a one-off, but the February 16th press release announcing Workday as sponsor only specified this stand-in role because the normal host in Mexico City was not available (and sounds unlikely to return). The Concession also paid an unsustainable fee to help fund the purse and maybe move some real estate.

Either way, I really enjoyed the excuse to go back and read up on the 1969 Ryder Cup moment that gave the course its name, digging up some fun and forgotten anecdotes from that Cup for Quadrilateral subscribers here.

With Crown Prince Responsible For Khashoggi Killing, Where Does That Leave Golf Saudi And The Public Investment Fund?

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In the worst kept secret on earth, a declassified U.S. intelligence report holds Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

While the Biden administration is thus far not directing penalizing the Crown Prince, the New York Times Julian E. Barnes and David E. Sanger write that “the release of the report signaled that President Biden, unlike his predecessor, would not set aside the killing of Mr. Khashoggi and that his administration intended to try to isolate the crown prince.”

The isolation effect could have an impact on the Crown Prince’s Golf Saudi and the Public Investment Fund under his control (also said to be a primary backer of the proposed Premier Golf League among many investments).

Golf.com’s Michael Arkush recently summed up Golf Saudi’s hopes in a story prompted by the recent announcement of a Jack Nicklaus design in Saudi Arabia, a company that part of Golf.com’s parent company 8 a.m. Golf.

The golf push is part of a larger “Vision 2030” strategy, championed by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; that initiative is aimed, in part, at bolstering the kingdom’s entertainment and tourism offerings as the nation simultaneously implements social reform.

On the golf front, thinking big means bringing in established designers.

“Every single golf course we are going to build from now on is going to have to be a branded name,” Majed Al Sorour, the CEO of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation, said in an interview. “All of the great designers are going to be part of the development in the kingdom.”

So far, the list includes two legendary major winners in Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman. 

Golf Saudi also hosts an annual European Tour stop said to be the vision of bin Salman.

As for the Public Investment Fund with tentacles in several major American companies and the proposed Premier Golf League, it could be vulnerable because of direct ties to the crime.

From CNBC’s Emily DeCiccio report:

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, is chaired by MBS. It appears to have played a role in purchasing the aircraft that ferried Khashoggi’s killers to Turkey, where the murder occurred.

“If this is the case, it could become a target for American human rights sanctions,” according to Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant secretary of State. That could, in turn, “create an economic earthquake,” he said. 

“If the United States determines that the Khashoggi killing was a targeted human rights violation, then the perpetrators and backers of that killing could be sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act,” Rubin said. 

The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act authorizes the president to impose economic sanctions, freeze any U.S. assets, and deny entry into the U.S. to any foreign person who has engaged in human rights abuse or corruption, while prohibiting Americans from doing business with him or her. The Magnitsky Act has been used against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cronies. Putin called it, “A purely political, unfriendly act.”

Vic Open Concept Comes North, Gets European Tour Status Thanks To ISPS Handa, Horan

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Australians rave about the Vic Open’s male/female format that sees both tournaments concluded Sunday, with leading groups interspersed. And now it’s coming to another European Tour/LET stop.

From Brian Keogh’s report on ISPS Handa and Niall Horan’s Modest! Golf Management putting together the event for this July, with first-ever northern hemisphere tri-sanctioning.

The ISPS HANDA World Invitational will attract a field of 288 players, 144 men and 144 women. The women’s field will be split equally between the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour. The $2.35 million purse will be split evenly, with men and women competing for two equal prize funds.

The tournament will count towards the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and carry Team Europe Ryder Cup points, while the women’s tournament will count towards the Race to the CME Globe for women on the LPGA Tour, the Race to Costa del Sol on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and Solheim Cup points for both Team Europe and Team USA.

When the male and female fields are cut to 60 and ties, another 54-hole cut reduces the fields to 35 advancing to Sunday, with tee times mixed so fans can watch both tournaments conclude at similar times.

R.I.P. Bill Wright, Pioneering U.S. Amateur Pub Links Champion, Instructor

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A couple of superbly handled stories are with your time on the life and times of Bill Wright, the first Black golfer to win a USGA championship when he captured the 1959 U.S. Amateur Public Links.

From David Shefter’s USGA.org remembrance:

“He felt so thrilled to be the best golfer that day, not the best Black golfer,” said Ceta Wright, who was married to Bill for 60 years, in an interview with the Seattle Times. “And, of course, afterward he realized that he was a barrier breaker and that was important to him. It was important to everyone, really, and especially in the Black community.”

Shortly after the trophy presentation, a Seattle journalist called Wright and asked what it was like to be the first African American to win a national championship. Wright, who was about to enter his senior year at Western Washington College, slammed the phone down.

Wright later told golf.com, “I wasn’t mad. I wanted to be Black. I wanted to be the winner. I wanted to be all those things. It just hit me that other people were thinking [about race]. I was just playing golf.”

Wright competed that week with only 12 clubs: two woods, nine irons and a putter. His opponent from Jacksonville, Fla., had been a professional for four years before regaining his amateur status and returning to the insurance business.

And from Richard Sandomir of the New York Times:

Winning the public links title earned Wright an exemption to play in the U.S. Amateur Championship later that year at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs. When the white golfers who were to join him for a practice round refused to play with him, Chick Evans, who had won the Open in 1920, invited him to join his group. That group included Jack Nicklaus, then 19 years old, who would win the event.

“I have never forgotten it,” Wright once said of Evans’s gesture in an interview for usga.com. “He came over and made it so I could enjoy the most aristocratic hotel. It was just amazing.”

And this…

Because he could not afford to play golf professionally full time, Wright taught sixth grade in Los Angeles for nine years, then owned a car dealership in Pasadena and was the teaching pro at the Lakes at El Segundo, a nine-hole municipal golf course, from 1995 to 2017.

The USGA put together this wonderful video tribute to Wright:

In 1959, Bill Wright made golf history when he became the first black USGA champion, winning the U.S. Amateur Public Links. Learn more about Wright's inspiri...

Deacon: "Golf course management tool created to help operators improve the golfer experience"

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Fun IOS and Android-friendly concept rolled out from the USGA for golf course “managers” to monitor a variety of things associated with operations and in particular, maintenance related elements.

This sounds like, if nothing else, a great way to monitor what green speeds do for pace of play. For Immediate Release, followed by a video explaining the app.

USGA Launches ‘Deacon,’ An Innovative Green Section Solution to Help Courses Deliver a Better Golfer Experience

Tool named in collaboration with the Palmer family as a tribute to Deacon Palmer, father of Arnold Palmer and longtime caretaker of Latrobe (Pa.) Country Club

 LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. (Feb. 25, 2021) – The United States Golf Association (USGA) has reached a key milestone in its efforts to support the long-term health of golf courses with the launch of Deacon, an innovative golf course management tool created to help operators improve the golfer experience by delivering better playing conditions while optimizing and prioritizing critical resource consumption.

Developed by the USGA’s Green Section and backed by its 100 years of hands-on industry experience, Deacon was designed to address two universal problems faced by golf courses: a gradual decline in participation due to a lack of satisfaction and rising maintenance costs. The digital tool is accessible online and available in both iOS and Android app stores.

The name is a tribute to Deacon Palmer, whose 50-year stewardship of Latrobe (Pa.) Country Club starting in 1926 – as superintendent and later golf professional – shaped a course that generations of golfers have enjoyed to this day. Latrobe is where Deacon taught his son Arnold to play the game on his way to becoming one of the most beloved figures in sports history, inspiring millions with his passion, character and values.

“In caring for Latrobe Country Club and influencing the life of one of the iconic figures in golf history, Deacon Palmer served the game in a way that matches our mission,” said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA. “We are humbled that the Palmer family has entrusted the USGA with honoring his legacy.”

The tool contains 10 key features that will enhance a golf course manager’s ability to deliver accessible, enjoyable rounds to its golfers, including pace of play reports, GPS heat mapping, golf course condition management and hole locations. According to USGA research, golfer experience plays a vital role in the financial viability of facilities and the game’s long-term health and sustainability. 

Complementing and expanding upon the USGA’s proven impact in turfgrass research, educational reach and on-site consultations, the tool will serve as an important supplement to the work done daily by golf course operators and empower them to make more efficient, data-driven decisions.

“Deacon represents the latest evolution in the USGA’s efforts to champion and advance the game,” said Davis. “The investment in this innovative technology will have a positive and long-lasting impact on the millions of golfers who visit green-grass facilities each year as well as thousands of golf course operators, the unsung backbone of our game.” 

The USGA and the Palmer family share a long association dating to Arnold Palmer’s amateur career. Palmer cited his victory in the 1954 U.S. Amateur Championship as the turning point in his decision to become a professional golfer. The first player to win the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open (1960) and U.S. Senior Open (1981), Palmer was honored in 1971 with the Bob Jones Award, the organization’s highest honor, and in 1975, he was named the honorary chairman of the USGA Members Program – a position he held until his passing in 2016. His relationship with the USGA and his role in American golf history were further cemented in 2008 with the opening of the Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History at the USGA Golf Museum and Library in Liberty Corner, N.J. 

“My father wanted to be remembered as a caretaker of golf because it was my grandfather, Deacon, who first taught him how to care for the game,” said Amy Palmer Saunders, chair of the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation. “Our family is proud to continue this longstanding association with the USGA through the Deacon tool because it supports the same common-sense people – superintendents and professionals – my father and grandfather identified with so closely in their own lives.”

 More information about Deacon can be found at gsshop.usga.org.

The United States Golf Association (USGA) conducts many of golf's most prestigious championships, highlighted by the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women's Open and the...

Annika Says This Is No Comeback, But May Also Miss Tokyo Games As IGF President

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Annika Sorenstam’s appearance at Gainbridge LPGA is a hometown stop for her and first on the LPGA Tour since 2008. She signaled this is no return, just preparation for this summer’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open according to Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols.

However, as Brentley Romine notes for GolfChannel.com, that even coincides with week one of the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics. Sorenstam is now president of the International Golf Federation which is primarily focused on one major initiative these days: golf in the Olympics.

Sorenstam says she has the IGF’s support in pursuing the Senior Open.

“Of course you're playing. We love having an active president,” Scanlon said to Sorenstam, according to Sorenstam, who added: “We're still working out the details.”

Sorenstam says a trip to Japan will be necessary at some point, depending on the travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, but she’s optimistic she’ll still be able to compete in the Senior Women’s Open while also maintaining her responsibilities to the IGF.

The IGF has also endorsed Sorenstam’s acceptance of the Presidential Medal of Freedom the day after rioters stormed the Capital building following a Trump rally.

Video from that ceremony and interviews both the day of and later on has been posted today by Graham Bensinger. Sorenstam is seen leading the room in an impromptu standing ovation for Trump a day after the riots is at the 1:20 mark. In follow up chats with Sorenstam and husband Mike McGee, the latter expresses understanding at the outrage over Sorenstam accepting the medal that day in light of what happened.

"MLB is deadening baseballs to liven up the game."

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The L.A. Times’ Mike DiGiovanna talked to managers and pitchers about Major League Baseball’s efforts in 2021 that include a tweak to ball construction and more humidors in certain parks. The goal appears to be dialing in the emphasis on all-or-nothing at bats and to restore “action” in the form of more balls in play, more importance placed on speed, and an increase in small ball for some teams.

In other words, the numbers show launch angle baseball is not resonating.

DiGiovanna writes:

The changes are so subtle that they may result in fly balls traveling only one to two feet shorter when hit more than 375 feet, but if that pushes baseball one small step toward its more traditional roots, it would be one giant leap for the game, in Maddon’s eyes.

“I’m hoping it impacts the game a lot,” Maddon said. “We’ll see how it works out this year, but if, in fact, the ball doesn’t travel as far, it will change the analytics of the game, and a lot of things will change off that.

“Strategically speaking, it will put more emphasis on speed, on hitting the ball the other way, especially with two strikes, on contact. Strikeouts will be more disdained, like they were in the past. Pitchers might challenge hitters more because they want the ball in play, and they won’t walk as many guys.”

This from Rich Hill:

“The overall feeling I’ve gotten from friends and family and fans that I’ve talked to is that, yeah, seeing home runs is almost like watching the NBA and guys throwing up three-pointers all the time,” said Rich Hill, a 40-year-old pitcher who recently signed with the Tampa Bay Rays.

“It understandably has a point to it, but strategically, if we want to continue to grow the health of the game, we might want to rethink where we are right now. And I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way.”

The parallels with golf’s infatuation with launch angle and power are clear: long balls must be all folks want to see. While control, shot shaping, recovery play and the ground game are seen as not as sexy.

"Tiger Woods’ catastrophic crash in Los Angeles has cast a spotlight on a low-budget documentary series that featured golf’s biggest star"

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From David Spade’s Instagram account

From David Spade’s Instagram account

A devastating situation gets no better after reading Meg James and Wendy Lee’s L.A. Times piece detailing what Tiger Woods was headed to when crashing his car in Rolling Hills Estates. Day two of the shoot was to be with quarterbacks Drew Brees and Justin Herbert for a Discovery+/GolfTV/Golf Digest series that originally had grander ambitions. The finger pointing has already begun as to why the star was driving himself to the “set”.

TV giant Discovery typically provides transportation for stars of its productions, arranging professional drivers to deliver the talent to and from sets and location shoots, according to an executive close to the company who was not authorized to comment.

That was the arrangement for this week’s shoot in Rolling Hills Estates, people close to the production said.

It’s unclear why Woods did not opt to have a chauffeur take him to the film site, but Woods is known, in golf circles, to prefer to drive himself to events, often with caddie Joe LaCava in the passenger seat.

(It’s actually TGR’s Rob McNamara the last few years and who visited Woods yesterday at the hospital, contrary to a TMZ report it was LaCava).

Discovery pushed back:

“That’s not a question for Discovery — that’s a question for Tiger’s team,” said Fiona McLachlan, a London-based senior vice president for sports communications for Discovery. McLachlan declined further comment.

Tiger Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, did not respond to requests for comment.

There was also this:

Initially, the Woods project was envisioned as much larger scale, with stunts and a bigger budget, but over time the size and scope were modified. Discovery instead decided on a documentary, “fly-on-the-wall” type production with non-union crews to give it a more intimate feel, people familiar with the matter said.

Had it been a union project, a Teamsters driver could have chauffeured Tiger Woods and any other talent or crew to the film location, said Lindsay Dougherty, an organizer at the Teamsters Local 399, which represents drivers, casting directors and location managers.

This also becomes relevant should it turn out Woods was simply speeding because he was late for the “call time”.

The story also puts a dollar figure on Woods’ Discovery deal.

The series sprung from a four-year deal worth an estimated $35 million that Discovery struck with Woods in November 2018.

At the time, Discovery billed the arrangement as “a strategic partnership” between Discovery, the PGA Tour, GolfTV and Woods. The cable programming giant, which owns several international sports channels, said that it would “collaborate with Woods on a wide range of programming, content creation and storytelling opportunities that will offer fans an authentic and regular look into the life, mind and performance of the game’s ultimate icon.”

Director Peter Berg’s post after hearing of the accident news:

Monahan: "right now the entirety of our efforts needs to be around the support"

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With all of the declarations of relief and victory that Tiger Woods survived his crash, PGA Tour Jay Monahan struck a more appropriately concerned and emotional tone in his remarks.

From Steve DiMeglio’s report at The Concession.

“When Tiger wants to talk about golf, we’ll talk about golf, but I think right now the entirety of our efforts needs to be around the support,” Monahan continued. “When you’re going to overcome what he needs to overcome, I think the love of all of our players and everybody out here, it’s going to come forward in a big way and across the entire sporting world.

“I think he’ll feel that energy and I think that’s what we should all focus on. We’ll all be talking about (the PGA Tour without Woods) at some point down the road, but right now that’s not what we should be talking about.”

World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession Becomes First Tour Event With Two Championship References In One Title

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No, I’m not excited about this week’s WGC Mexico City replacement in Bradenton, Florida. Maybe the course will grown on me, but with Tiger Woods in a hospital room this will be a tough one to get up for. Plus, all-things-considered, it was a super West Coast Swing that wrapped too soon for a month of swamp golf.

And a tournament called the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship At The Concession (WGCWCATC).

That said, this week’s venue does have a nice story behind it and some of the players have even heard the story of the 1969 Ryder Cup. Now, ask me again on Sunday after 498 tellings of The Concession story. I might feel like Captain Sam Snead did about one of the great acts of golf sportsmanship.

This is a nice recap of that Ryder Cup, including a reminder that it was Jack Nicklaus’ first ever Cup appearance:

The Concession at the 1969 Ryder Cup between Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin remains one of the most iconic moments of the event. Here Jacklin remembers the f...

As for the course, look to the trusted digital outlets for the best “content” on The Concession. They may not be credential worthy to some golf organizations but someone has to pass on the WAGs slideshows and sponcon to cover the game!

The Fried Egg’s Garrett Morrison and Andy Johnson discuss the layout and slopes with their usual stunning drone shots:

NLU’s “Crash Course” on the Nicklaus-Jacklin design:

Roundup: Doctors Weigh In On Tiger's Accident Injuries

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Blunt warning here: this is all very hard to read on many levels. Emotionally and physically, if you can read this without cringing or losing your appetite, your soul may need nurturing or you’re an orthopedic surgeon.

After a statement detailing Woods’s injuries made by the lead doctor at Harbor-UCLA, enough information has led doctors to speculate about what Woods faces.

Bill Mallon, who played a little Tour golf and is an orthopedic surgeon, posted a lengthy Twitter thread assessing Tiger’s situation based on details.

A selection of some of the posts:

Gina Kolata of the New York Times talks to doctors about Woods injuries that are consistent with car accident victims hitting the brakes. This is a tough read in part because contrary to rosy assessments that the worst is past him or there is reason for a “sigh of relief,” Tiger has a brutal road ahead in the coming days and long term.

Kolata looks to compare Woods’ injuries with that of NFL quarterback Alex Smith and even Ben Hogan. The primary perspective from Dr. R. Malcolm Smith, the chief of orthopedic trauma at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass.

When the front end of the car is smashed, immense force is transmitted to the driver’s right leg and foot. “This happens every day with car crashes in this country,” Dr. Smith said.

Such lower-leg fractures on occasion bring “massive disability” and other grave consequences, said Dr. Smith. “A very rough estimate is that there is a 70 percent chance of it healing completely,” he added.

He goes on to explain the issues facing Woods should swelling not subside in his leg and he needs a skin graft to close the wound.

And the issue of playing golf is addressed.

As a result, he said, it may take five to 14 months for Woods’s lower leg bones to grow together, assuming they do so at all.

The biggest hurdle will be his foot and ankle injuries, Dr. Firoozabadi and others said. Regaining range of motion and strength can take three months to a year. Depending on the extent of those injuries, even after rehabilitation Woods may barely be able to walk.

For the squeamish, University of Rochester’s Dr. Michael Maloney is a level one trauma surgeon and offered a more sensitive explanation on Matt Adams’ Fairways of Life. He translated the doctor’s statement, noting this was a “limb threatening” injury.

It’s a very good explanation that starts three minutes into the show: