Tiger Woods joked that his leg feels fine as long as he doesn’t play golf after the 15-time Major winner limped to a four-over par 74 in the opening round of the PGA Championship.
Six weeks after making a miraculous return to the game at the Masters following 14-months on the sidelines after suffering multiple leg injuries last February in a career-threatening car crash.
The former World No.1 was in visible pain at Augusta National after he had dragged himself up and down and all around the hilly course over 72 holes and he seemed battled through the pain once again at Southern Hill Country Club.
After making a terrific start with two early birdies, Woods was limping a little on his right leg, which was surgically reconstructed last year. A couple of holes later, Woods seemed to be limping a whole lot more as he used his golf club like a walking stick to ascend or descend hills.
That soon caught up with his game with seven bogeys in his final 13 holes leaving him in a share of 99th after 18 holes at the course where he captured the 2007 PGA Championship title.
“Yeah, not feeling as good as I would like it to be,” said Woods with a smile in a post round press conference. “Loading hurts, pressing off (my right leg) hurts, and walking hurts and twisting hurts.
Woods then joked: “It’s just golf. If I don’t play that, if I don’t do that, then I’m all right.”
“We’ll start the recovery process and get after it tomorrow,” he added.