ESPN analyst thinks Tiger Woods is finished after his Achilles tear

By DANIEL MATTHEWS

Two-time major winner Andy North believes Tiger Woods’ hopes of ever competing at the top of the leaderboard are over after he ruptured his Achilles ahead of The Masters.

The 49-year-old, a 15-time major champion, is facing another long spell of rehabilitation after having surgery to repair his left Achilles last month.

Woods has been plagued by injury over recent years – the golf legend has had six surgeries on his back and also required an operation on his ankle back in 2023.

He managed to win a miraculous fifth Masters title in 2019 – at the age of 43 – but North believes those days have now passed.

Woods’ star power has not diminished despite his age and he recently went public with his relationship with Vanessa Trump – the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr. 

But the 49-year-old has not played a competitive tournament since last year’s Open Championship, when he missed the cut.

Andy North believes Tiger Woods’ hopes of competing at the top of the leaderboard are over

The 49-year-old recently confirmed that he was dating Vanessa Trump, ex-wife of Donald Jr. 

He finished 60th at last year’s Masters at Augusta but that remains the only time he has completed four rounds of a major since 2022. 

And North, a long-time analyst for ESPN, believes Woods will struggle to recover from this latest injury setback.

‘I think that the competitor in him — you always think you can rehab. You always think you can come back,’ North said, per Golf.com. 

‘You always believe that you can do this. But I don’t have any magic answers there. I would think that he’s going to try to play some events after this rehab. 

‘Is it going to be a Tiger Woods that can compete? Deep in my heart, I don’t think so.’

Woods claimed that he would be part of the field at Augusta as part of an April Fool’s Day prank. The reality, however, is that he faces a long spell of recovery.

‘This next rehab is going to be brutally difficult for him,’ North added. ‘He doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody. He’s done everything he needed to do. 

‘If he were to announce in the next month or two that, you know what, I’m never playing competitive golf again, I think that would be great, and no one would have an issue with that.’

Woods plays alongside his teenage son Charlie, 16, during the PNC Championship in December

‘Is it going to be a Tiger Woods that can compete… I don’t think so,’ ESPN’s Andy North said

But North, who won the US Open in both 1978 and 1985, believes that Tiger’s teenage son Charlie, 16, is the main reason why Woods is still playing.

‘I’ve got to believe that — deep down in my heart, he is one of the great competitors of all time.

‘But if he didn’t have any children, I don’t know if he’d be playing now,’ the 75-year-old said. 

‘I think one of the reasons he’s worked so hard after the accident was because it gave him a great opportunity to spend so much time with Charlie and play golf with his son, and watch Charlie get better.’ 

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ESPN analyst thinks Tiger Woods is finished after his Achilles tear

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