Tiger Woods has posted a video of himself hitting a shot in an indoor simulator following suggestions he had suffered a serious setback in the recovery from his back injury.
The 13-second clip on Twitter, accompanied by the words “Progressing nicely”, follows claims over the weekend by that the former world No1 found it painful to sit down and was unable to move well.
Although Woods does not specify when the video was taken, the initials TW and the numbers 2/24/16 – indicating yesterday’s date – were visible on the simulator screen.
Earlier in the day, PGA Tour player Tony Finau tweeted a picture with Woods, taken on Tuesday night at the 14-time major champions new restaurant in Jupiter, Florida. In the picture, a smiling Woods did not appear to be in any discomfort.
The 40-year-old’s agent, Mark Steinberg, told ESPN that the video was recorded shortly before 6pm UAE time on Wednesday.
Progressing nicely. pic.twitter.com/HKnnluR1OW
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) February 24, 2016
“This was meant more for all his fans who had reached out since all of this erroneous reporting came out over the weekend that Tiger was so disabled he had to sit in the passenger seat of a car,” Steinberg said.
“So many had reached out and wondered if this was the end and if this was true. This was meant to give the most recent update. That’s a fairly full swing. It’s a full 9-iron that he was hitting. He’s been doing some chipping, working his way to where he is at right now.
“It would be different if I had just said he’s progressing and doing some chipping and putting. This is a bit more impactful and relevant to show it this way.”
On Tuesday night, Woods had dinner at his restaurant along with fellow Nike players Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau, Scott Pinckney and a few Nike staff.
Retired US women’s soccer player Abby Wambach was in attendance, too, and Woods spent more than two hours there and did not appear to be in pain according to Finau.
He said: “He looks strong and healthy. He looked a little hesitant (in the video of his swing) but he’s just being careful with his back.”
