Tiger Woods refused to hide from the inconvenient truth about his golf game as the 15-time major champion faces a fight against the odds to revive his career due to injuries

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Tiger Woods chose to laugh rather than cry about his decline(Image: Tim Heitman/Getty Images)

Tiger Woods summed up his sad decline by laughing at the state of his golf game as injuries threaten to bring his phenomenal career to an end.

The 15-time major champion has been ravaged by injuries in recent years. Most recently, he underwent back surgery earlier this month, not long removed from rupturing his Achilles tendon, and he has not played tournament golf since the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon.

Those issues have compounded the wear and tear he accumulated on and off the golf course over the years, with a high-speed car crash in 2021, in particular, causing significant damage. And after his latest in a long line of surgeries, fans, pundits, and his contemporaries alike fear that his iconic career is over.

When Woods has been able to tee it up alongside the world’s best, he has been a shadow of the unstoppable force that he once was.

In his appearances at the majors in 2024, he showed fleeting flashes of the magic in his hands, but his compromised mobility dramatically hindered his endurance to play four rounds in as many days.

A rare interview with Woods was published this week by his tech-powered indoor golf league, TGL, to promote its second season, which is set to see off without him December.

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Woods has not competed since the 2024 Open Championship(Image: PA)

It is unknown when the interview was filmed, but it is highly likely that it was recorded before Woods’ latest surgery. He was all smiles as he was asked a series of quickfire questions, one of which posed, “If your golf ball could speak, what would it say?”

It was a silly question and a bit of fun, but it elicited a revealing response from Woods. “Now?” he said. “It would probably start laughing.”

This was Woods choosing to laugh rather than cry about his decline. After all, he can rest easy knowing he has achieved everything possible in the sport. He also has the joy of watching the development of his talented son, Charlie, on the golf course.

A member of Woods’ inner circle insisted the former world No. 1 is “not in denial” about the grim outlook for his chances of competing again, but they insisted that he wants to do everything he can to give himself a chance.

“He’s not stupid,” the insider told the Daily Mail. “He won’t retire but he’s slowing down. He wants to do at least one more major and to perform well in it. He wants to end the career with a bang, not a whimper. But right now, we’ll have to see.

“He’s not in denial, but he wants to push himself until there’s nothing more he can do. It depends on his recovery if he’s there yet or not. Seems pretty likely that he is.”