Sports Betting Articles
Tiger Woods back in the course a week before the US Open
By Cindy Ferguson
After being out of competitions for two months due to a knee surgery, World No. 1 golf player Tiger Woods played his first full golf round since the 2008 Masters on Wednesday June 3. Woods had a private practice round in the South Course of Torrey Pines in San Diego just a week before the 2008 US Open starts in this same venue.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the practice lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes and no spectators or media were allowed on the course. The only company Woods had on the practice was his swing coach Hank Haney, who said later on a phone interview that they had a positive day; “Everything held up good,” he said. “Obviously, he didn’t walk. But he hit the ball really good.”
Tiger Woods has had three surgical interventions on his left knee; the first one in 1994 to remove a benign tumor, then in 2002 another surgery drained fluid from around the anterior cruciate ligament and removed a benign cyst, and the third one on last April 15, he underwent an arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage; two days after finishing in the second place at the Masters and after months of dealing with the pain. The advantage of this situation is that he was positive since the beginning because he was very familiar with the rehabilitation process and knew how to handle it and recover successfully from it as he has done it before.
Woods has a history of victories on the Torrey Pines golf course, where this year’s US Open will be held, and this made him one of the favorites to win the tournament since January when he started the season at this venue with an eight-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational, tournament that he has won six times including the last consecutive four. Woods have won the US Open only twice in his career, in 2000 and 2002 respectively.
The US Open will start on next Thursday June 12 and although usually the biggest stars are dispersed among different schedules in the first stages of the competitions, Woods will play the first two rounds with World No. 2 Phil Mickelson and World No. 3 Adam Scott as determined by the USGA to create equal footing for the highest-rank players.
Five years ago Woods and Mickelson also played at Torrey Pines in the 2003 Buick Invitational in the final group and in that time Woods was as well coming off eight weeks layoff from his second knee surgery, nevertheless, he managed to win the tournament and Mickelson finished in the fourth place that year.
Tiger Woods achievements place him in the history among the most successful golfer of all time. He has 64 PGA Tour wins including 13 Major Championships and 15 World Golf Championships and holds the records of being the World No.1 for the most consecutive weeks (264, from August 15, 1999 to September 4, 2004) and the most total weeks (497 weeks in 11 years).
About the Author:
Cindy Ferguson is a high-ranking sports writer on golf action in the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.
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