GOLF LOVERS will be hoping Tiger Woods can add to his ‘superman’ status, and match the incredible recovery achieved by one of his boyhood idols, Ben Hogan.
Hogan was almost killed when his car was hit head-on by a Greyhounds bus in February 1949.
But he came back from a shattered pelvis, busted ribs, a broken collarbone and near-fatal blood clots to win six more Majors, taking his total to nine.
Woods’ injuries are not as serious as those sustained by Hogan – but they are serious enough.
After he was cut from the wreckage of his car and hauled out of the windscreen by firefighters, the 15-time Major champion underwent what was described on his Twitter feed as a ‘long surgical procedure on his lower right leg and ankle’.
The most serious problem facing his surgeon, Dr Anish Mahajan was the fact that the fractures to his right leg were comminuted – which means the bones were broken in more than two pieces.
Dr Anish commented: "Comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones were stabilized by inserting a rod into the tibia.
"Additional injuries to the bones of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins."
That sounds ominous, especially as golfers place so much strain on their ankles through impact – and Woods has already had to overcome five back operations, the same number of knee ops, and a torn Achilles tendon.
His latest operation – to remove a disc fragment from the area of the spine where he had two discs fused together in make-or-break surgery – was carried out just a few weeks ago.
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And one of his successors as world No 1, Jon Rahm, said it was not just his latest injuries that would be a cause for concern.
Rahm explained: “When you think that he underwent back surgery only last month, you have to hope he hasn’t damaged anything they’ve already done.
“We’re all just hoping for the best possible outcome – that he can make a full recovery from this, and that we see home on the golf course again as soon as possible.”
Woods, 45, has shown extraordinary battling qualities in the past to come back from his catalogue of injuries and keep on winning – most notably when he ended an eleven year drought in the Majors by winning the 2019 Masters.
And as someone who is steeped in golfing folklore, he will know all about the ordeal Hogan went through before cementing his place as one of the game’s true legends.
Hogan was already a three-time Major winner when the bus emerged from the early morning fog near his home in Texas, and smashed straight into his car.
The golfer instinctively threw himself in front of wife Valerie, in the front passenger seat, to try to protect her from injury.
That bravery saved his life, as the steering wheel was rammed straight through the back of the driver seat.
Hogan reportedly told would-be rescuers: “I’m not hurt. Help my wife. I’ll be OK.”
It was ninety minutes before an ambulance reached the scene of the crash, and another two and a half hours before Hogan arrived at a hospital in El Paso.
He was told by doctors he might never walk again. But his recovery is the stuff of legends.
He spent 59 days in hospital, but walked out unaided, and was playing competitive golf again nine months after the smash.
Hogan famously won the first three Majors of the year in 1953 – the Masters, the US Open, and the Open – but decided against going for the Grand Slam at the USPGA Championship.
That was a legacy of his injuries – the USPGA was a Match Play event at that time, and players often had to play 36 holes a day.
Hogan felt the constant pain from his injuries would not allow him to take on that workload, especially after a long boat trip back from his victory at Carnoustie.
Instead, he settled for a ticker-tape parade through New York, to celebrate his ‘Triple Crown’.
That made him the only man to win three Majors in a year – until Woods matched him in 2000 by winning the US Open, Open, and USPGA, before completing the Tiger Slam at the 2001 Masters.
The snag for Woods – if he attempts another comeback to rival that of Hogan – is that the Texan was 36 when he was involved in his car wreck, nine years younger than Tiger.
But we are talking about Tiger Woods, and he has shown time and time again that it never counts to write him off!
Among the men who refused to count him out was former US President Donald Trump, who has played golf with Woods several times
Trump gave an interview to US broadcaster Fox News shortly after Woods was hospitalised, and said: "It's just tragic. He has overcome a lot, but he's had an incredible life and he's going to continue to have an incredible life.
“He'll recover from this –it's pretty bad on the legs, I understand, but he'll figure a way. He's a wonderful person."
Even those who have never agreed with anything Trump has said in the past will hope he is right this time.
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