Tiger Woods’s agent has rubbished suggestions that the former world No1 has such bad back pain that he has trouble sitting down and climbing stairs.
Reports from the Secret Tour Pro, and golf writer Robert Lusetich claimed that Woods, who hasn’t played since August, is struggling to walk, and needs a driver to take him anywhere while he sits in the passenger side with his seat fully reclined.
But agent Mark Steinberg completely rejected the claims on Monday.
“The tweets that appeared this weekend about Tiger’s health are ridiculous and absolutely false,” he said. “It’s reprehensible that every few months someone makes something up and it’s treated like a real story. Tiger continues to work on his rehabilitation and we will have an accurate update at the appropriate time.”
On Friday, Steinberg told ESPN that he had no update on Woods’ status, echoing similar comments he made at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. There has been no official update since Woods, 40, said in early December that he had yet to begin rehabilitation.
Woods has not played since the Wyndham Championship in August, where he came 10th. Since then, he has twice had surgery on his lower back, the latest coming on 28 October. Neither Woods nor Steinberg has said what the October surgery involved.
“There is no timetable for this and that’s been the hardest mindset adjustment, is that I don’t know,’’ Woods said on 1 December. “So where is the light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t know, so that’s been hard.’’
