Tiger Wins 2008 US Open Ending His 2008 Season

By now everyone knows the outcome of probably the most amazing US Open in the history of the game. The world watched as a wounded Tiger played through the pain for 91 holes and willed his way to his 14th Major.

We knew about the knee ... it was so obvious. But we didn't know he was playing with a double stress fracture of the left tibia. Tiger said nothing about it. It happened just before the Memorial. But he was determined to play in the Open and win.

The doctors tell Tiger that the stress fractures will heal with time. How much time will be required is unknown. Tiger says the fractures were the source of his greatest pain during the game.

He is finished for the year, but not without that one last major victory that capped off a painful 10 months.

What we didn't know was that he has had a torn ligament in the knee since last July. So surgery was not optional. But he delayed it. He wanted to go for his 14th and maybe get in some more majors before going under the knife.

He says he tore the ACL while jogging at home after the British Open last July. He chose not to have surgery at that time and continued on to win seven consecutive victories, including the Dubai Desert Classic in Europe and his Target World Challenge, an unofficial event.

He had arthroscopic surgery April 15 to clean out cartilage in his left knee, bypassing ACL surgery with hopes it could get him through the 2008 season. But going 91 holes for his 14th career major made it impossible to play any longer.

Here's a quote: "Although I will miss the rest of the 2008 season, I'm thrilled with the fact that last week was such a special tournament."

Well, to sum it up, he misses a major for the first time this year and will not be in the Ryder Cup.

He has played seven times worldwide this year and won five of them. In retrospect, his performance at Torrey Pines was even more than spectacular. It was more like miraculous.

This was the Tiger's disclosure statement:

"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 US Open.

"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."

Prayers for complete recovery, Tiger.

by
Marion