Tiger Woods Posts Driver Swing in Sunday Red

Tiger Woods posted a video of him swinging a club for the third time in eight days. The 14-time major champion appears to have turned a corner as it pertains to his latest back surgery. 

The latest dispatch from Team Tiger shows Woods in his signature Sunday red ensemble swinging a TaylorMade driver, marking the end of his progression through the bag that began last month with 60-yard pitch shots.

Last weekend, Woods posted a video of him hitting “smooth iron shots” followed up by a post on Tuesday, Oct. 10 of him hitting full shots, seemingly full bore, at a clinic during the Tiger Woods Invitational.

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig puts Woods’ timeline into context. 

Woods, who had fusion surgery on his lower back in April, has not said if he has been cleared by doctors to resume full golf activity. He said two weeks ago at the Presidents Cup, where he was an assistant captain, that he was awaiting word after a six-month check-up. His agent, Mark Steinberg, could not be reached Sunday.

It was at the Presidents Cup where Woods said, “I don’t know what my future holds for me.”

At the time, Woods said he was only hitting 60-yard pitch shots.

But on Oct. 7, he posted a video of him hitting a full shot. On Oct. 10, he posted video from a clinic he held with PGA Tour player Kevin Chappell at the Tiger Woods Invitational in California, a charity event that supports his foundation. Other video surfaced from that day in which Woods hit numerous full shots as part of the clinic.

On Sunday, wearing shorts and red shirt, Woods is seen hitting one shot with a driver, which is considered important as there is typically a slow progression through the bag before hitting the longer clubs. At the Presidents Cup, Woods said he was limited by his doctors in how much twisting he was allowed to do.

“Overall, I’m very optimistic how I’m progressing,” Woods said on Sept. 27 before the Presidents Cup. “Like I said, the pain’s gone, but I don’t know what my golfing body is going to be like because I haven’t hit a shot yet.So that’s going to take time to figure that out and figure out what my capabilities are going forward. And there’s no rush.”

Woods, 41, last played in February, when he withdraw after one round of a tournament in Dubai, citing back spasms. After making an attempt to return for the Masters, Woods ultimately decided on a fourth back surgery, which took place on April 19. He had three previous surgeries to deal with a disk issue — in March of 2014 and in September and October of 2015.

After the October 2015 surgery, Woods went more than a year without playing competitive golf before playing at the Hero World Challenge last December. He missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open then withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic.

“I’ve been out of the game for a while,” Woods said at the Presidents Cup. “First things first: get my health organized, make sure the pain goes away. Then, basically, just as I said, just keep waiting for what my surgeon says. I’ve given you guys the updates on what I can do as I progress, and that’s all I’m doing.

“I’m still training, I’m getting stronger. But I certainly don’t have my golf muscles trained because obviously I’m not doing anything golf-related.”

Based on his own Twitter posts, Woods at least has moved a bit beyond that.

[ESPN.com]

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