Daniel Berger Teases Return to Golf After 14-Month Hiatus

After fourteen months away from professional golf, Daniel Berger is nearing a return.

Not competing since the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club of Brookline, where he missed the cut, Berger is in shape once again and able to swing a golf club.

It appears the nagging back injury that once set him back to what he called “the worst six months” of his life, Berger is ready to compete.

Today, Berger posted videos of his driver swing with the caption “Back to work.” It seems this may be the first time in over a year that he has felt good enough to swing a club with the power it requires to compete with those on the PGA Tour.

In May, Berger said to the AP that the time between June and December 2022 was a challenging time (via GolfMonthly):

“That was the worst six months of my life. I’ve had a pretty easy life. I play golf for a living – it’s not that stressful. But there was a point that I would have given up golf for the rest of my life not to feel like that.”

The injury had seriously affected his ability to play at Augusta National in April of that year. Despite the stakes, Berger could not continue as the injury simply did not subside. 

He added:

“I kept playing through it. It got to the point right around Augusta where I couldn’t sit down, I couldn’t do normal activities, I couldn’t play tennis. I need to see someone about it.”

After the U.S. Open just two months later, Berger admitted to himself that he would need to have his back fixed before he could play professionally again, or at least at the level where he could compete for a Major Championship:

“I played that tournament and told myself, ‘This is it.’ And then I tried to play the US Open. I was taking two ice baths a day to get on the course.”

Berger seems ready to avenge his drop in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), which has fallen to 265th from his previously attained 12th. At the time of his missed cut at the U.S. Open, which was his last tournament, Berger was 25th.

Cover Image via Golf Channel