Tiger Woods facing 'unfortunate reality' he won't be full-time PGA Tour player again

Tiger Woods is working to return to the golf course after a serious car crash threatened to end his career, but he knows that if he does make a comeback, things won't be the same.

"I think something that is realistic is playing the Tour one day -- never full-time ever again -- but pick and choose, just like Mr. [Ben] Hogan did," Woods told Golf Digest in his first interview since the February accident. "Pick and choose a few events a year and you play around that.

"You practice around that, and you gear yourself up for that. I think that's how I'm going to have to play it from now on. It's an unfortunate reality, but it's my reality. And I understand it, and I accept it."

Woods, 45, began teasing his return earlier in this month when he shared a brief video on social media that showed him hitting balls on a range. He last competed in the 2020 Masters, three months before a single-car crash caused serious leg injuries. Woods told Golf Digest that there were times he feared he'd leave the hospital with only one leg.

Taking inspiration from Hogan makes sense, considering the legendary golfer also suffered injuries in a serious car accident that altered his career. Hogan fractured his pelvis, collarbone and ankle in a collision with a bus in 1949 and didn't compete again until 1950.

While Hogan continued to play until his 1971 retirement, he chose events carefully, and his schedule got lighter late in his career.