Tiger Woods might not have the ability to play golf like he used to, scything through top-quality fields with unerring regularity, but the 49-year-old still possesses a sharp sense of humor.
As attention around the golfing world turns to The Masters next week, it has been known for a while already that five-time champion Woods will not be a part of the 2025 field following his latest significant injury.
The 15-time Major winner was practicing at home in February when he felt a sharp back down the back of his lower left leg. He was quickly diagnosed with a ruptured Achilles and underwent surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach.
In the days that followed, a leading orthopedic surgeon told Golf Monthly that even with a dedicated team around him and all of the discipline in the world to complete the necessary rehabilitation, Woods was unlikely to be fully operational in pro golf for between nine months and a year.
Professor Nima Heidari, a Consultant Orthopedic And Trauma Surgeon of the Foot and Ankle at The London Clinic, said: "The Achilles tendon is one of the strongest tendons in the body and it's one of the most commonly ruptured ones.
"If you don't do the rehab then the problem that you grapple with is re-rupture, so you can re-tear the tendon and the rates of that are quite high... You would usually spend 1-2 weeks not bearing load on the leg to allow everything to settle down. This allows the wound to heal.
"After that, you start bearing load on the foot and then you start your accelerated rehab protocol. Even during those first two weeks, I'm sure that Woods is going to be doing rehabilitation to maintain strength, muscle and flexibility. So he'll be doing upper body exercises, core exercises, hamstrings, glutes and quadriceps to maintain all of these things.
"The rehabilitation isn't just for his tendon, but also for him as an individual. For us mortals, the best results that you can have, to say that you have made a full recovery, takes anything between 9 months to a year. To be honest, it's much the same for athletes."
Professor Nima Heidari went on to explain that in a best-case scenario, people can return from Achilles injuries after about six months - still some way off for Woods at the time of writing.
Nevertheless, the Californian's embryonic position in his recovery timeline has not caused Woods to be too downbeat. With The Masters just days away, Woods posted on social media to jest that his rehabilitation methods had resulted in a miraculous healing.
Shared to his millions of followers on April 1 - also known as April Fools Day - Woods wrote: "I can’t believe I am saying this, but a few weeks after rupturing my left Achilles, the sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber plus the explosive lifts, my doctors and trainers have me ready to play the Masters next week! Can’t wait! See y’all on the course."
Tiger Woods just pulled off the ultimate April Fools’ prank, and the CNBC Squawk Box crew fell for it for a second. 😂 pic.twitter.com/kxDRciPTaaApril 1, 2025
The overwhelming majority of fans and media understood the joke for what it was, but Woods quickly followed up with another message just in case. He wrote: "P.S. April Fools, my Achilles is still a mess :)."
That clarification message didn't quite arrive in time for the CNBC Squawk Box crew, though, whose anchor read the initial X post out live on air. A couple of the other members were seemingly celebrating the news before the anchor noted that it was published on April Fools Day, leading to the team realizing its collective mistake.
The chances of the 82-time PGA Tour winner competing in any of the four Major championships this season are slim to none as it stands, and if that were to be the case then he is unlikely to play any competitive golf before turning 50 in late-December.
P.S. April Fools my Achilles is still a mess :) https://t.co/H1Y1AOgn2vApril 1, 2025
Should Woods heal slightly faster than expected, he could either appear at the Hero World Challenge in early December or at the PNC Championship alongside his son, Charlie a few days later.
The Woods family lost in a playoff to Bernhard and Jason Langer at the 2024 event, months after the German had suffered his own ruptured Achilles - sustained while playing pickleball in the lead-up to The Masters.
Otherwise, one of the most iconic golfers of all time could either choose to retire from the pro game or return to the PGA Tour at the Genesis Invitational next February ahead of his latest crack at a 16th Major.
