Tiger Woods: No light at end of the tunnel

“For my 20 years out here I think I’ve achieved a lot, and if that’s all it entails, then I’ve had a pretty good run. But I’m hoping that’s not it. I’m hoping that I can get back out here and compete against these guys. I really do miss it."

"It's goodnight from me, and good night from him"

Tiger Woods is feeling more than a bit sorry for himself. The greatest sportsman of his generation isn’t dealing with his latest timeout particularly well. In fact the only thing he is doing well at is playing video games. 

"I'm really good at video games. That's how I pass a lot of my time.”

What are the chances of Tiger winding down to the latest sequel to his iconic computer game?

Speaking at the Hero World Challenge in Albany, Florida which he hosts, Tiger opened up to the assembled press, and sounded like Sad Sack from the Raggy Doll’s

"There's nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build towards. Where's the light at the end of the tunnel? I don't know.”

His existential crisis reminded us off Derek Zealander's “Who am I” moment. But we know it’s a bit mean to laugh. Woods is recovering from surgery to alleviate pain from a pinched nerve in his back. But he doesn't’t now how long that will take. 

“It’s different from any of the other the surgeries and procedures that I’ve had in the past, where, OK, you blow out your ACL, which I did, and I had ACL reconstruction, and, OK, you’re back in nine months. For nerves, there are really no timetables, and therein lies the tricky part of it because you can come back earlier or you can come back later, it just depends on how the nerve heals and how it settles.

"I've no answer. Neither does my surgeon or physio. There's no timetable.” 
When asked if he knew if he would be playing a year from now, he said: “You know, I’ve been asked this quite a bit lately and the answer is I don’t know, only because I really don’t, I really don’t,

This is the most defeated Tiger has ever sounded, even after losing a fight with a fire hydrant he sounded more chipper than this. 

Back when he knew what he was doing

“For my 20 years out here I think I’ve achieved a lot, and if that’s all it entails, then I’ve had a pretty good run. But I’m hoping that’s not it. I’m hoping that I can get back out here and compete against these guys. I really do miss it. I miss being out here with the boys and mixing it up with them and see who can win the event. That’s fun.
“But if that’s not the case anymore, then I’ll find other avenues, that being growing my foundation, golf course design or other projects I have going on right now that will certainly take up more of my time.”

Tiger Woods, soccer dad

What he wants to do first though is plays one football with his kids.

"If I can get to that, then we can start talking about golf," he said. "But let me get to where I can pass the time and really be a part of my kids' life in the way that I want to be part of it physically, not just as a cheerleader."

Is this it for Tiger? In the wake of Kobe Bryant’s retirement this week, is the former Eldrick thinking the same? And if he retired now would Tiger retire happy, or simply frustrated that he didn't’t fulfill his golfing destiny?