News sources are reporting that the guy with the bum knee won’t start swinging a club until sometime in 2009. Tiger doesn’t have a timetable for return:

“I don’t know what the doctors are going to tell me about playing golf down the road. I’m taking it day-to-day, week-to-week. All I’m doing every day is looking forward to my next day.”

This has got to be killing him.

USA Today and network news sources are reporting that Tiger Woods will undergo a fourth surgery on his knee—this time reconstructive—and miss the rest of the 2008 season.

I hate to say I told you so, but ...

From Tiger’s website:

“I know much was made of my knee throughout the last week, and it was important to me that I disclose my condition publicly at an appropriate time. I wanted to be very respectful of the USGA and their incredibly hard work, and make sure the focus was on the U.S. Open,” said Woods.  “Now, it is clear that the right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee.”

A date for the knee surgery, as well as the necessary rehabilitation schedule, has not yet been determined.

“While I am obviously disappointed to have to miss the remainder of the season, I have to do the right thing for my long-term health and look forward to returning to competitive golf when my doctors agree that my knee is sufficiently healthy,” said Woods. “My doctors assure me with the proper rehabilitation and training, the knee will be strong and there will be no long-term effects.”

I’ll repeat what I wrote in my 2008 wrapup. Tiger’s 91 hole effort was heroic, but stupid. Everyone would have understood if he had withdrawn before, or during the tournament.

I’ll be very happy if he comes back. Golf with Tiger is far better than golf without.

But I have to wonder: At what price victory?

As I suspected, Tiger was risking further injury to the knee by playing the US Open At Torrey Pines:

After deflecting questions all week about his left knee that 10 weeks ago was operated on for the third time, Woods, 32, finally admitted he’d been told by doctors he had risked further injury to his knee by playing in the national championship.

Had he re-injured it?

“Maybe,” Woods said, again not wanting to go into details.

What is clear is we won’t see Woods for a while, perhaps not even at next month’s British Open at Royal Birkdale, a place where he finished second to buddy Mark O’Meara in 1998.

“To be honest, I really don’t know,” Woods said when asked when he will return. “I’ve got to shut it down. But I’m not real good at listening to doctor’s orders.”

Heroic, but stupid. That’s a billion dollar knee we’re talking about. The television commentator said over and again how much he depended on snapping that knee to get the extra yards when he needs it. Tiger could have skipped half this season, and people would have understood. How sad it would be to realize that future brilliance was lost for the same of a US Open title at Torrey Pines.

SignOnSanDiego has an interesting article on how things might be different without Tiger Woods:

Majors mean the most, and there are players whose lives and careers would be significantly altered without Woods.

Garcia, still seeking his first major title this week, would have been the 1999 PGA champion at 19; Mickelson would have won the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage and be three-quarters of the way to the career Grand Slam; Scotsman Colin Montgomerie, cursed in majors, could have strolled down the home hole at St. Andrews in full glory as the ‘05 British Open champion.

Chris DiMarco would have reached the next level with two majors, the ‘05 Masters and ‘06 British Open. Tom Kite, Retief Goosen and David Duval could be visiting Augusta for life as Masters champions. Woody Austin and Bob May could have won the PGA.

And, of course, there is the star-crossed career of Ernie Els. In three straight starts in 2000, the two-time U.S. Open champ finished second behind Woods, including runner-up ties in the U.S. Open and British Open. Five times overall, Els has finished second on the PGA Tour to Woods, matching Singh as Woods’ biggest victim.

Four times Mickelson has placed solo second to Woods.

The article also explores other areas, such as charitable giving, and golf marketing. It’s really worth a read.

Jamie Diaz writes that every golfer eventually encounters his Achilles Heel, but that ...

To this point, Woods has been the most artful dodger. It’s not that he hasn’t had some tough losses, or been confused by his swing, or suffered some wear and tear. It’s that by dint of talent and will he has turned every adversity into another launching pad for improvement. As Golf Digest’s David Owen so astutely noted of Woods, “Everything makes him better.”

The event that challenged him the most—the death of his father, Earl, in May 2006—became the catalyst for an inner peace and resolve that led, beginning with last year’s PGA Championship, to the best sustained play of his life.

But at some point, something will not make him better, and if anything sounds ominous enough to qualify, it’s a third operation on his left knee at age 32. This time around, there was damaged cartilage, a material not even Woods can regenerate. When asked if he worried his knee would pose a chronic problem, Woods’ response was almost resigned: “I said after the first one I probably wouldn’t have another [operation] ? and now here I am having three. It is what it is.”

I’ve been saying for years that Tiger isn’t going to play as long as we might like. He’s just 32, but he’s an OLD 32. He’s now been playing competitive golf for twenty five years. That’s a lot of wear and tear, especially with the incredible torque that allows him to hit those awe inspiring shots.

I predict that in the next couple of years, Tiger will cut his playing schedule back to the majors and a couple of other select tournaments. He doesn’t need to play the Tour minimum, because he doesn’t need the Tour.

Read the entire Jamie Diaz article.