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Cape Town - Tiger Woods revealed that when he was in the midst of his multitude of back issues, retirement had crossed his mind.
The 14-time major winner will make his long-awaited return to professional golf at the Hero World Challenge this weekend in the Bahamas. But a little over a year ago, Woods seriously doubted his future as a golfer.
"There was a lot of trepidation and times where I thought... I did
think of that (retirement) because it was realistic," Woods said, as quoted by the PGA Tour website.
"Not being able to get out of bed, not being able to move, how can I expect to come out here and swing a golf club at 120 miles an hour and be ballistic when I can't even get out of bed."
Woods has bounced back from serious injuries before.
He famously won the 2008 US Open practically on one leg after serious knee injury and while he has failed to add to his major tally since, he did win 14 more times on the PGA Tour.
However, Woods revealed that that this particular series of injuries are a different kettle of fish.
"When you're dealing with a spine, when you're dealing with nerves, it's a totally different deal," he added.
"Talking to Davis (Love III), Davis had his neck fused. He had tingling down his arm, he couldn't feel his fingers anymore. That's, you know, your career could be over. Had it fixed, came back and won last year.
"So there's a lot of guys who have had injuries like that and have come back and done well and have won golf tournaments."
Woods went on to say that this week still had many unknowns and is just the first step of the comeback process.
"As the week goes on, I can give you more detailed answers on where I'm at and the feel that I have, but as of right now I'm still at the beginning stages of that process," he said.
"I want to do this as long as I can, as long as the body will allow me to."
