The question of when Tiger Woods will return to professional golf was dealt a huge blow on Tuesday, when it was announced that the 15-time Major winner was forced to undergo surgery after rupturing a tendon in his left Achilles.
Not only does it mean that Woods will miss The Masters, but likely the rest of 2025. Or does it? Well, we spoke to Professor Nima Heidari, a Consultant Orthopedic And Trauma Surgeon of the Foot and Ankle at The London Clinic, to find out more.
"The Achilles tendon is one of the strongest tendons in the body and it's one of the most commonly ruptured ones," explains Heidari.
"The typical group of people that have this injury are middle-aged men. People talk about the tendons snapping and they can hear it snap, I'd describe it like someone kicking you in the back of the leg. That's what Woods has done."
It's no secret that Woods is prone to injury. After The Open Championship last year, the 49-year-old underwent a sixth back surgery of his career and made a return at the PNC Championship in December.
So, the million dollar question lies in what will Woods' rehab look like and when, or if, he will make a return in 2025?
"Surgery is really more reserved for elite athletes, or people who function at a high-level. You can't trust them to do the rehab," states Heidari.
"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."
That may sound like bad news for fans of the 15-time Major winner, but there is hope, especially for a possible appearance at the end of the season.
"The recovery I describe as a logarithmic curve. What that means is that the majority of your recovery is front-loaded into the first three months or so," explains Heidari.
"You can (return early)... You don't stretch the Achilles out till you're about six months down the line, but you will be starting to work on strengthening the calf and Achilles tendon by exercising it more and more and putting more and more load on it.
"During this time, he can of course stand and hit a golf ball. He may have to modify his swing, but he will be able to physically play relatively early on. He won't be able to play at competition level, but I fully expect him to be ready around the six-to-seven month mark.
"If everything goes as planned, he may well be able to make a really early return."
From Heidari’s explanation, it seems that Woods will miss the four Major Championships in 2025, but we may be in the familiar position of seeing him return to action alongside son Charlie at the PNC Championship in December.
