Tiger Woods' target return date from back surgery of May 29 ain't gonna happen. Just ask Graham DeLaet.
Sports.nationalpost.com is reporting that DeLaet, a Canadian player who is ranked 30th in the world, said he had the same surgery on his back as Woods and took a year to recover.
Woods, the world's No. 1 golfer, announced on Tuesday that he would miss the Masters after undergoing surgery Monday but was hopeful of a return to chipping and putting in three weeks and playing soon after.
Tiger Woods' friend Notah Begay told Golf.com that Woods was projecting that his comeback as the Memorial in late May. That tournament is two weeks before the U.S. Open.
According to sports.nationalpost.com, DeLaet underwent a microdiscectomy - a surgery done because of a herniated disc and includes a small portion of the bone over the nerve root being removed. At the time of DeLaet's surgery in January of 2011, he said he thought he would return to competitive golf in three or four months.
The recovery process was slower than DeLaet anticipated, as he explained to sports.nationalpost.com.
"It took me basically a year to really feel comfortable to really attack the ball, especially from deep lies in the rough where I really had to go at it.
"I was in a pretty rough shape beforehand; I don't know what kind of shape Tiger was in, obviously not very good if he ended up with the surgery, DeLaet said. "I was hitting balls on the range after four months and tried to come back after six months. But I then played for two weeks and knew I was not ready and shut down for another six months."
DeLaet added that he was 29 when he had his back surgery.
"There's no question that the younger you are, the faster you'll be able to recover," he said. "I'm sure Tiger has a good support system. That's the main thing. I feel for him because I've been through the same thing and I hope he listens to his body. When your body's saying 'no' you should shut it down."
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