Tiger Woods was already recovering from another back procedure at the time he sustained major injuries in a car crash on Tuesday, which has raised the question of whether he will ever play on the PGA Tour again. At least one doctor says you can count on it.
The famous Dr. Oz spoke with TMZ this week about Tiger’s leg injuries and surgical procedures. He said there is no reason to doubt Woods given his history and that he was fortunate enough to have the accident near a top-notch medical facility.
“He’s had a bunch of surgeries and bounced back when no one thought he could,” Dr. Oz said. “He had the luck of having his accident near a major trauma center with expertise in this area. I have great confidence that they managed this correctly.”
Dr. Oz went on to explain some of the challenges Woods is facing after suffering multiple fractures and muscle damage, but he said he expects the 15-time major champion to make a full recovery.
“Medically speaking, I think it’s six months until his bone is recovered to its original form. But then the muscles will have atrophied around it. They had to open up in order to prevent pressure from killing the leg, so that has to heal,” Dr. Oz said. “These are open wounds that are going to take a while and will need to atrophy, but he’ll build them back. Give him a year, allow him to recover from the emotional and physical trauma of this procedure, and I’ll bet on Tiger Woods every time.”
Dr. Oz compared Tiger’s injuries to Alex Smith’s devastating leg injury. He noted that Smith was able to return to playing a contact sport, which is one of the reasons he’s confidence Woods will be back on the PGA Tour. He did not talk much about Tiger’s latest back procedure, however.
Anyone who saw the photos from the crash site on Tuesday knows that Tiger is lucky to be alive. He probably isn’t thinking much about golf at the moment, but it’s encouraging to hear that his injuries will not necessarily prevent him from playing professional golf in the future.
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