Following the knee surgery that took place one week after his US Open victory in June, World no.1 Tiger Woods has revealed that it will be around another 3 months before he can swing a club and he does not expect to be at full fitness in time for the 2010 season.

 

"The healing process for an ACL (rebuild of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament) is six months"  Woods said during a video conference.  "No matter what I try to do, I can't speed up that process.  That puts me into January.  Unfortunately, I can't rotate, I can't practice on that leg until then."

 

It is thought that after six months, the ACL will be at 85% in strength and will then return to 100% strength over the following 18 months, so overall the healing period is around 2 years.

 

Prior to the injury, this past season has brought Woods 9 victories in 12 official events.  Recalling his 9 months of competition that was the best span of his career, Woods said "I think I have played better in this stretch than I have at any time.  I may have won more major championships, but I certainly have never been in contention in as many events or won as many events in a row.  I had a pretty good run."

 

Reflecting on the season, Woods was curious to think what he could have done without knee surgery.  "I missed the two major championships and the entire playoffs.  It was frustrating in a sense because I was having a pretty good year to that point when I decided to shut it down for the rest of the year.  It would have been nice to see what I could have done for the rest of the year".