Tiger Woods skips the Masters: the announcement arrived today on the great American champion's website. The number one golfer in the world underwent back surgery on Monday for a hernia that had been tormenting him for months, crushing a nerve. The surgery, performed in Park City, Utah, by neurosurgeon Charles Rich, was successful, but Tiger will certainly not be able to take the field at Augusta National in 10 days.
It's a bad blow for this tournament, the first major of the season, which sees itself deprived of one of its protagonists, still favorite on paper, even though he hadn't done anything good this season. Tiger is fighting to get back on his feet and keep his place on the circuit even if he will probably lose his place as number one in the rankings shortly, chased by players in splendid form such as Adam Scott and Rory McIlory.
Woods decided to have surgery after trying to fix the problem in other ways, but without success. When he realized he couldn't make the first round of the grand slam, he decided to go under the knife. It is the first time that the champion has missed the Masters, his favorite major, the one where he has overturned every taboo against black people and which he has won four times.
“This is a difficult time – writes Tiger – but I am optimistic for the future. There are a couple of two player records (San Snead and Jack Nicklaus, ed) that I still want to break. I think I still have a long career ahead of me." In short, the tiger is wounded, but she won't stop roaring. He has obviously done what was indispensable, in recent months he was a shadow of himself and now it is clear why.
