After 15 weeks of rest and rehab, my doctor (Michael Havig) gave me the okay to start hitting balls again. Dr. Havig performed surgery on a full thickness tear on the rotator cuff in my left shoulder on January 16, which came as a shock, especially after all of the other procedures that I have gone through these past three years. Dr. Havig wants me to take it slow, which makes sense. The last thing a rotator cuff repair patient wants or needs is to suffer a 're-tear'! That would put my career in jeopardy.
When I had my hip replaced in the fall of 2007, I was able to hit balls in three weeks! And with my knee replacement, which was in the spring of 2008, my doctor allowed me to start practicing after just six weeks. But in those cases, I had completely new, manufactured joints! It was all about getting those joints moving. The rotator cuff is completely different...it needs at least 12 weeks of NOTHING! And a lot of it! Over these past three months, I've tried to be patient, do all of my rehab and go slowly. So far, so good.
I spent last weekend in Houston working with my teacher Jim Hardy and everything went well. I am only allowed to hit short irons but I have no pain and very little stiffness. It feels great to finally get back out on the range after these past four months.
This week I am heading to Ponte Vedra and THE PLAYERS Championship. I wish I were playing but I'll spend the week working for NBC on the broadcast team. I think THE PLAYERS Championship has become the 5th major. I realize that there are only four recognized major championships in golf today but if you ask any PGA TOUR player, he'll tell you that a victory in THE PLAYERS Championship is competitively on par with a major. It takes just as much to win at Sawgrass as anywhere. You've got the strongest field of any event in the world. The field at THE PLAYERS blows away the fields at the Masters in terms of 'strength of field,' as well as any World Golf Championship event. All of the WGC events are about securing the highest international TV rights with as diverse an international field as possible. THE PLAYERS is about bringing the best players together. In my opinion, there are five majors and I doubt you'd get much argument from anyone in the field this week.
At least that's my take...what's yours?