Sky Sports.com - US Open 2008

Woods: Facing stern test on injury comeback

It's already being dubbed The Battle of Wounded Knee - and you can probably guess which knee they are talking about.

It is the left leg joint of a certain Tiger Woods, and it ensures all the speculation and hype surrounding this week's US Open (which is live on Sky Sports1 at 6pm on Thursday; SS2 at 6pm Friday; SS1 at 9pm on Saturday and 8pm Sunday) will be centred yet again on the world's No 1 golfer.

Only Tiger could sit on the sidelines for two months and still hog all the headlines before a single player tees up on the daunting Torrey Pines course in San Diego, California.

It is an astonishing testament to the near-reverence in which he is held, even among some of the players themselves. As US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said: "I feel bad for him because this just slows down his march to history."

The 'march to history' refers to Tiger's seemingly inexorable charge towards the record 18 major titles held by Jack Nicklaus. A win on Sunday would give him 14. At the age of 32 (the Golden Bear claimed his 18th and last major at 46).

But here is where the pundits become seriously divided about the likelihood of 'The March' maintaining its current progress (five of the last 13). They are basically divided into two camps.

The 'Yes he can' brigade point to Tiger's remarkable ability to come back from previous lay-offs, including a win at Torrey Pines straight after his second knee surgery, and the fact he was still winning even before this latest setback. If he can finish a close second in the Masters with a bum knee, they say, he should just eat them up now he is fully fit again.

And this is one of his favourite venues. He wins here more than anywhere else, with no less than SIX Buick Invitational titles, plus the Junior World crown as a teenager.

But the 'Knee-sayers' insist it is too soon for Woods to be returning from surgery with any real hopes of winning. They point out it is the third procedure on that particular joint, amid whispers that it was more serious than just a 'cleaning up' exercise; that it might have been (gasp!) his anterior cruciate ligament.

The same group can also point to the extra toughness and demands of this course; how it will be more physically gruelling than any other tournament this year. For someone with doubts over their 'match fitness,' it is far from the ideal comeback gig.

Smooth

And, to a large extent, they are right. The Torrey Pines of mid-June is most certainly not the same course on which Tiger romped to an eight-shot win in January, when the weather was cool and (by Californian standards) dowdy. Greens were soft, fairways wider and the rough was, well, rather smooth.

This time, the municipal course will be longer (a US Open record 7,643 yards), tougher (par 71, instead of 72 in January - the par-5 sixth is now a 515-yard par 4), harder (the greens have had five months of fairly constant sunshine) and more brutal.

Said Mark Calcavecchia: "I don't know how much harder and faster the greens will be," (the answer is "much", Mark), "But when we were there in January, you could it hit it out of the rough. From what I hear, that won't be the case this week. It will be like every US Open - stupid."

There is also the little matter of the US Open being Tiger's least successful major; his only victories on the typically 'stupid' courses rolled out for this event came in 2000 and 2002, while he actually missed the cut in 2006 (admittedly after another lay-off following the death of his father).

But then you take a step back from the more emotive arguments and look at some of the statistics.

Tiger's winning percentage in majors is truly astounding. To date, he has competed in 45 of golf's 'Big Four' events. He has walked off the final hole in first place in 13 of them - a 30% victory percentage. Nicklaus, by comparison, won 12% of the 153 Majors he competed in.

Even if Tiger takes part in 'only' 100 majors in total (which would, coincidentally, probably take him to the age of 46), he might expect to win another 17. That would be 30 in total, busting the previous best by 12, or 66 per cent. In statistical terms, he would be two-thirds better than the previous best of all time. Just awesome, as the Americans might say.

Weighing up all the debate, you still feel it may just be a tournament too soon for the world No 1. But it is also safe to say that if the name 'Woods' is added to the winner's trophy on Sunday, he will have taken another mighty leap forward on 'The March.'

And no golf record will be safe from this epoch-making onslaught in future.

As a final footnote, it is sad to report the European challenge gets scant coverage this week. There is a nod towards Sergio Garcia's recent win at the Players Championship and Paul Casey gets an 'honourable mention' for his tournament best 66 in the second round at Oakland last year.

When 13 of the world's current Top 50 hail from England, Spain, Ireland, Sweden or Germany, you would think the Euros might earn a touch more respect.

But the brutal reality is you have to go back to 1970 for the last time a golfer from this continent claimed victory (step forward Tony Jacklin) in the USGA's showpiece event. The last four have all been won by non-Americans (Angel Cabrera, Geoff Ogilvy, Michael Campbell and Retief Goosen), but the general feeling is this course is tailor-made for the precision golf of the likes of Jim Furyk or local boy Phil Mickelson.

Or can we just not see the Woods for the trees?