Tiger Woods, the US Open, and His ACL: Unreal

by Christopher McIntosh
06/19/2008

Tiger Woods can't win the US Open with one hand tied behind his back.

But he can win while playing on one leg.

So we knew that his leg was hurt. We knew he'd just had surgery on the thing and he didn't play a full practice round before the Open because of the pain.

But that was supposed to be no big thing, just a little scoping for some cartilage buildup. Don't worry, guys, ain't no thang.

Tiger came into the Open looking to do well. In reality he didn't even expect to win. And for someone of his ability, that's saying something.

Instead, he played a full tournament, *19* holes of overtime, and birdied the 18th hole twice on consecutive days to force playoffs.

And then, of course, he won.

He dropped bombs. 350 yard drives. 60 foot eagle putts. Slam dunk chip in's from off the green that made even him lean over and just start giggling.

But he waited till after the Open to drop the biggest bomb of all. Thank you for the trophy, guys. Thank you very much, and goodnight.

No British, No PGA, No nothing. I'm taking my trophy and going home.

See, I've kind of been lying to you guys a little bit about my knee, um, problem. It's not just a little bit of cartilage.

I have a stress fracture in my leg. And, oh yeah, I tore my ACL.

Last July.

Process that for a second. Tiger Woods just took the ultimate test in golf, got beaten around for five days by a guy named Rocco, and won.

All while playing on a broken leg held together with a torn ACL.

ACL tears are deal breakers. Any other sport, you're done for six months to a year, you don't keep playing for six months to a year.

I can speak with some authority on the ol' ACL. My dad tore his twice. I tore mine while a senior in college.

My knee and I were not on speaking terms for a good two years. I also have some idea of what Tiger went through. I tore mine in the Summer, but held off on the surgery till the Winter. Given that I was (shockingly) not under professional contract to provide athletic services to any organization, I had this luxury because the most difficult thing I had to do was get up off the couch, walk to the refrigerator, and sit back down on said couch. Oh, and study (sorry, Mom).

If you're squeamish skip ahead.

My knee would do things once the swelling went down that no body part should do. The ACL is the main ligament of the four that hold your knee together--once that rubber band snapped, my knee was held together by a lot of luck and some weak muscles. And it acted like it.

If I caught my foot on anything, and I mean anything, instead of my knee staying together and my ankle bending, the opposite happened.

I could feel my knee spin in its socket.

From what I understand, aside from making me feel vaguely nauseous, this is also not good for one's knee.

So let's review what Tiger did. His left leg (broken) was held together by the wrong ligaments and acted as the main force that he pushed against when generating a swing so powerful it could probably propel one of those little plastic golf balls about 225. And here's the amazing part--it's his left knee--it was the one that he spins the rest of his body against.

So I just have one question. If tapping a chair wrong with my foot could cause my knee to spin in its socket like a figure skater, how in the hell did he not literally spin out every time he hit the ball?

And none of this even begins to mention or deal with the fact that he walked on this thing for over 91 holes of golf.

But let's go back to one detail.

What were you doing in July 2007? I can say personally I was in the hospital for an illness related to my lack of salt consumption and am still paying for it (I'd like to personally thank the financial service department of a prominent Chicago hospital. And give a special shout out to my inadequate insurance provider that I pay several thousand dollars a year for. Y'all are the best). What have I done since then? Um...depends who's asking.

What has Tiger done? Gone on a consecutive win streak that had otherwise reasonable reporters asking if he was going to run the table and win every single tournament he entered. This would be roughly akin to walking into every casino on the Vegas strip, sit down and play blackjack for 8 hours, and end up in the black after every single session. In other words, no chance. But when Tiger's involved, you believe. He also won the 2007 PGA championship--major number 13. He came in second at the Masters. And he just won major number 14, what some are calling the best US Open ever, in approximately quintuple overtime.

Not bad. For someone who would have been on the UR in an other sport.

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Tiger Woods Pga Golf Us Open Championship Acl Knee Injury Swing Rocco Mediate

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