FLORIDA — Tiger Woods seemed “very healthy” when he attended a dinner party at the home of Jack Nicklaus, the 18-time major champion said Sunday.
Nicklaus and wife Barbara hosted the gathering for United States Ryder Cup hopefuls at their Florida home Thursday, while the players were in town for the PGA Tour Honda Classic.
Woods, who has not played competitively since August, was there in his capacity as a Ryder Cup assistant captain.
“He looked very good,” the 76-year-old Nicklaus told reporters Sunday. “He looked very healthy and he really misses playing. So that’s good.
“He says he was feeling great, and he was able to stand over a putt and chip now without having any leg pain and so forth. We didn’t really talk a whole lot about it.”
Despite the upbeat comments, Nicklaus said a return to competition was not imminent for Woods, who underwent back surgery in September and had a follow-up procedure the following month.
There was a media report recently that Woods had suffered a setback from his most recent surgeries, and could not move well.
Woods responded by sending out a video that showed him smoothly swinging a nine-iron in a golf simulator.
“He doesn’t have a timetable for returning or anything,” Nicklaus said.
Woods, 40, has won 14 major championships, second only to Nicklaus.
Game missing ‘Tiger’ factor
While exciting young guns Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day have been pivotal in drawing a wide audience to the game, the sport is missing the ‘Tiger’ factor when it comes to ‘fringe fans’, says a leading golf executive.
Woods, the greatest player of his generation and arguably of all time, has not competed since August after enduring setbacks in his recovery from back surgeries and has not set a timetable for his return to the PGA Tour.
“You can never replace Tiger Woods, just like you can’t replace Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player,” Ken Kennerly, executive director of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic, told Reuters.
“Tiger, it’s difficult to replace him. In my opinion, without him in the game, we’re missing something.
“Tiger Woods is still Tiger Woods, and when he showed up at the Wyndham Championship last year in August and played well, and was (in) one of the last couple (of) final groups ... the (television) ratings were off the charts.” — Agencies
