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When news first broke of Tiger Woods’ car crash on Tuesday morning, and viewers saw images and video from the crash site, information available to the public was limited, and there were genuine concerns over his life.

Those weren’t entirely unfounded, given that Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he was “lucky to be alive”, but over the next few hours information about Tiger’s injuries emerged.

Rather perversely, it’s been a marketing dream for the team at Genesis, the luxury SUV brand Tiger was driving at the time of the crash, with the vehicle’s safety features credited for saving his life.

According to Dr. Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Tiger suffered “comminuted open fractures to the upper and lower sections of his right leg, as well as significant trauma to his right ankle”.

He underwent surgery to insert a rod, screws, and pins to stabilise his leg and ankle, with Dr. Mahajan adding that “trauma to the muscle and soft-tissue of the leg required surgical release of the covering of the muscle to relieve pressure due to swelling.”

As things stand, Tiger will face no charges, although authorities are still to examine the SUV’s black box, and obtain Tiger’s cellphone records, to see if he was distracted at the time of the crash.

Now that the dust has somewhat settled, and we know that Tiger’s injuries are in no way life-threatening, talk has naturally turned to if, and when, we may see him return to competitive golf.

On this front, there are many doctors offering their takes, and we’ll start with former PGA Tour player Bill Mallon, who is now qualified as an orthopaedic surgeon and has worked in emergency rooms dealing with the aftermath of crashes like Tiger’s.

He spoke with The BBC:

Most fractures heal fairly well in six weeks to three months. In the lower extremity it is usually three months or so. I don’t know how much soft tissue damage there is. The more there is interrupts the blood supply and everything heals with blood supply so that could delay the healing a little bit…

I still think in three to four months he may be able to get full weight bearing status on that leg.

Mallon says that Tiger’s recent back surgery, the fifth of his career, shouldn’t play a role in the healing of his leg, but the leg injury could well impact on the recovery of his back, meaning more time out from the game:

Assuming that Tiger’s leg heals without an infection, the next problem is the other fractures he has in his foot and ankle. They may cause him arthritis down the road. But even if he gets that, I think he will walk again and I think he could probably play golf again.

He may be able to play competitive golf again as well, but he’s a year out from that – he’s not going to play this year, I don’t imagine.

The fact that it was Tiger’s right ankle that sustained the most damage is beneficial to any potential return, given that it’s the left ankle that is under greater strain during the downward part of your swing.

Dr. John Torres, NBC News’ medical correspondent, was less bullish, but didn’t think a return to professional golf was off the table.

This from The Golf Channel:

His age, 45, will also play a role in his recovery, said Dr. Torres:

“That doesn’t seem that old, but if you’ve had these multiple surgeries they take their toll over time. So, his recovery is going to be slower because of his age, but also going to be more cumbersome because of all the other surgeries including that back surgery he’s still recovering from. Putting all those together it really complicates the picture going forward.

“The hope going forward is that, No. 1, he can walk again, that he can walk his daughter down the aisle when she gets married, that he can do those things he wants to do to play with his family and his kids. And hopefully, the best-case scenario is that he gets back to the level of golf that he’s used to.”

Having already achieved so much in the game, with 15 major wins and 82 PGA Tour events, there would be no shame in calling it quits.

Then again, 82 PGA Tour event wins only ties for first spot (Sam Snead also won 82), and Tiger would love to have that record as his own.

Beating Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major wins, even for somebody as single-minded as Tiger, is surely out of the question.

Speaking with CBS, orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Jaime Hernandez was far less optimistic than some others in the medical fraternity:

“After an injury like this, things are never the same,” said Hernandez. “All of this taken together is obviously a pretty severe injury and requires healing to different structures – bone, soft tissue, muscle, tendon, possibly nerves, so it’s a pretty severe injury.”

…After treating similar injuries, he believes the golfer will be able to walk again, but what about getting back to playing the sport he mastered?

“He has leg limitations, back limitations, but you know the mental side is a huge factor,” Hernandez said.

What is perhaps most frustrating about Tiger’s crash is that he was, after so many years of being almost robotic on the course, and distant from his fellow professionals, finally starting to let his guard down a little.

If you’ve watched Tiger, the recent two-part docuseries, it’s obvious from the ending that he was embracing his career’s second act, and players who had idolised him from a distance could see the difference.

ESPN has a great feature on his change of mindset:

The wall Woods built up around him was often impenetrable. There was little conversation. Only the closest of the close got to know him.

That ice eventually began to melt after he returned from the spinal fusion surgery to play a full schedule in 2018. Woods knew that procedure was no guarantee. In fact, at one point, he admitted, “I thought I was done.”

He embraced this opportunity to play again. He was buoyed by the young guys in his South Florida neighborhood — Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler — who were suddenly bugging him to play and picking his brain.

For those who got to play with him for the first time, they got an experience they’d never forget.

In December of last year, Tiger played in the PNC Championship with his son Charlie, who was 11 at the time.

There were some truly iconic moments, and Tiger played with a smile throughout:

🚨Charlie Woods fist pump 🚨

The low uppercut. A Woods special. pic.twitter.com/KhJPSC1Sw4

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 20, 2020

If Tiger does return, we can only hope it’s at a level that befits his legendary career.

And if he doesn’t, he has already forever changed the game of golf for the better.

[sources:bbc&golfchannel&cbs&espn]