Tiger Woods on Crutches, How He Hates Ice & How He Targets Jack Nicklaus' Record

At the press conference for the AT&T National today, Tiger Woods said that he has been resting and has had his foot in a boot for the Achilles tendon that is strained. 

He has been on crutches to take the pressure off his back, which gets sore when he has to limp while wearing the boot.

“I'm basically going to start probably by end of next week, start strength training, trying to get had thing a little bit stronger, because it's obviously atrophied from not doing anything for a while, and try to get it in golf shape again,” he explained.  

So far, he is on target to return for the US Open at Congressional. He is very questionable for The Memorial.

“Either way I'm going to call Jack (Nicklaus, host of The Memorial) and let him know,” Woods said. “As far as being ready for Congressional, I'm trying to do everything I can. All my docs have said it should be ready to go by then, should be good to go.”

Speaking of Nicklaus, Woods admitted that The Golden Bear’s record is a driving force for him.

“That 18 is our benchmark in our sport. No one's played the major championships better than Jack has,” Woods added.

“It took Jack over what, 24 years, 23 years to do what he did. It takes time. I still have plenty of time, and I feel that going forward I'm excited about playing major championships and playing golf again. I just want to be healthy and solid, and I feel like I can give it a go.”

He reiterated that the four surgeries have taken their toll and that his knee is not perfect. His ability to hit balls depends on when he can start doing some work to build back the muscles in his leg.

“Obviously it's atrophied just because I haven't been able to do anything on it,” he said.

“Eventually I'm going to have to start strengthening this leg again, that timetable will determine when I can start hitting balls again.”

He admitted that he probably came back too soon at The Players.

"That's one of the reasons I shut it down this time,” he said. “I was borderline whether I was going to be ready for The Players. I was excited about the event and I felt like I could go.” 

He ended up WD-ing after the first nine holes on Thursday, when both the Achilles and MCL in his left leg started to bother him.

The decision to wear the boot and be on crutches was to allow time for the injuries to heal.  

He alluded to 2008 when he did not play any practice rounds before the US Open and ended up winning. He even had a positive spin on it.

"It would be nice to play more, but in '08 I didn't play anything. This year, I see it as an advantage. I see that I got to play nine competitive holes more than I did in '08 between the Masters and the U.S. Open,” he explained.

His game plan, however, is to be able to prepare and practice and play practice rounds for the US Open. He does not need to be pain free to do it.

“I haven't been pain free for a long time, so thank God there is ibuprofen,” he added.

“There is a difference between being in pain and being injured. Those are two totally different things. You can handle pain, but being injured is a different deal.”

His conclusion after all the treatments for his knee and Achilles is that he is really tired of ice.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained by the writer either directly or from official interview transcripts.