Many have doubted whether Tiger Wood can possibly come back from his latest incident that was a result of his "deactivated glutes". Last Thursday, the famed golfer withdrew due to back spasms on the 11th hole of the Farmers Insurance Open. This has led to speculation that the golfer's career is done.
According to SB Nation, Woods had this to say about his withdrawal: "It's frustrating that it started shutting down like that. I was ready to go. I had a good warm-up session the first time around. Then we stood out here and I got cold, and everything started deactivating again. And it's frustrating that I just can't stay activated."
Tiger also added: "It's just my glutes are shutting off. Then they don't activate and then, hence, it goes into my lower back. So, I tried to activate my glutes as best I could, in between, but it just they never stayed activated. [I first felt it] whenever we were standing there on the putting green to see if we were going to go play or not. And I tried to activate it before we went back out, but it just never did."
Notah Begay III, Woods' former Stanford teammate, unofficial swing advisor, and Golf Channel analyst appeared on The Dan Patrick Show and talked about Tiger's condition. The two of them shared a laugh about Tiger's "deactivated glutes", and this quote has easily become meme status on the Internet.
There has been a lot of frustrations for the pro golfer as Golf magazine described his "chip yips" that occurred at the Hero World Challenge last December. Then there was the problems with the short game that happened at the Waste Management Phoenix open as he scored an 82, the worst of his career. Even before that, Woods won eight Tour events in 2012 and was not able to come anywhere close to winning any majors in 2013. Before that, he was able to WD at the Players in both 2010 and 2011. It was the extramarital affairs before that in 2009-2010, and the reconstructive knee surgery that began what some are considering a slow downfall since 2008.
Considering those pitfalls in the past few years, many are saying that Woods will not win the Masters in eight weeks, and there is doubt that he will play. The Chicago Sun Times has said that Tiger Woods as we knew him is gone and never coming back, and this is pretty sad, considering how much he was a modern-day icon in the nineties. His most recent withdrawal was the third time in Tiger's last nine tournaments that he had to pull out due to a back injury.
It is not clear whether or not Tiger Woods will be able to overcome his injuries, and many believe that he has hit rock bottom. I should be considered that every athlete will eventually not be able to play their game as good as they used to, and if Tiger's time has come, then hopefully those that remember his prime will also remember the inspiration that he bought to the game.
