Tiger Woods Responds to Injury Rumors

Turns out a lot of “insiders” have no idea what they are talking about.

Earlier this week, stories began circulating, based on a single, anonymous tweet, regarding the degradation of Tiger’s health.  The rumor was that Tiger’s back issues have regressed dramatically, to the point that he was reportedly forced to recline when sitting in a car.

I’m told #TigerWoods condition worsened. He can’t move well; painful to sit. Sits in car with seat fully reclined. No forseeable return. Sad

— Robert Lusetich (@RobertLusetich) February 22, 2016

From there, the hot take machine across the golfing Twitter world was up and running with the fury that only a Tiger Woods report can generate.

First, there were the stories written about the tweet, then stories were written about the stories about the tweet.  All asking the same question, what does this all mean?

Then, naturally, came the responses from Tiger’s agent and close friends, rebutting the rumor as ridiculous.  Which, in turn, fired up the old hot take machine once again.

But who was right?

This morning, the one guy who actually knows how Tiger Woods is progressing responded.

Progressing nicely. pic.twitter.com/HKnnluR1OW

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) February 24, 2016

Progressing nicely, indeed, Tiger.

There is a lesson to be learned here, but will most likely be ignored.  Those that originally shared the unfounded rumor will simply move on to the next unfounded rumor.  Those that used a completely anonymous source—anonymous to them and not just to the public—will use that same anonymous source for some other unfounded rumor.  Which will naturally kick off all the same discussions and uninformed opinions across the web and Golf Channel and Twitter and any other outlet available.

It’s one thing to use said source for something mundane like a pro switching companies or signing an exclusive deal with Nike.  But when you are using that same source to report on the health, or set-back thereof, of possibly the greatest golfer to ever play the game, maybe, just maybe, get a second source to verify the story.

For now, though, as everyone moves on to the next thing, I for one am happy that these insiders couldn’t have been more wrong.

Cover Photo via Twitter