Tiger Woods expects ‘tedious and long’ recovery from second back surgery

Tiger Woods doesn’t know when he’s going to play competitive golf again, but his message on Tuesday was clear: Don’t hold your breath.

Woods, who surprisingly announced Sept. 18 that he had undergone a second microdiscectomy surgery on his back in 18 months, said he will soon begin rehab. However, he doesn’t have any kind of timeline for the length of the rehabilitation, and when that might allow him to start working on his game in a serious way in preparation for a return to the PGA Tour.

“Rehab will be soon, and it will be tedious and long,” Woods said at the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup, a two-man team event he intended to play with Matt Kuchar before pulling out after the surgery.

Woods first had a microdiscectomy procedure on his back on March 31, 2014. He returned some three months later at his Quicken Loans National, a decision Woods admitted was made to appease the then-new tournament title sponsor and the membership of host Congressional Country Club, which agreed to continue host the event every other year after a contentious vote. Woods knew he began his comeback too soon. He’ll move much more slowly this time.

“The last one, it took me awhile to get back,” he said. “Some players on Tour have done the same procedure and to be back pain-free it took them over a year.”

Woods, who has 79 PGA Tour wins including 14 major titles, turns 40 in December. Woods trails Jack Nicklaus’ record major tally by four. However, no golfer has ever won that many majors after the age of 40.

The current world No. 334 said he is hoping to return and emulate Vijay Singh, who rose to No. 1 in the world as part of a 22-win run in his 40s.

“The main thing is to get fit and to reach my 40s with good health to be as successful as Vijay, who won most of his tournaments at that age,” Woods said.

Woods, who has sought solace in the extraordinary achievements of older players to come before him, including Tom Watson, still believes he can catch Nicklaus.

“It’s important for me to have more than 18 majors when all is said and done,” Woods said. “It took Jack his whole career to achieve it and mine is not done yet.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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