PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods says his right hand is fine a month after “the bone popped out” during the final round of the Masters.
Actually, Woods clarified in his news conference Tuesday at The Players Championship that it was a joint at “the front of the wrist and base of the hand” that he popped back into place after hitting a hidden tree root with a shot off pine straw at the ninth hole at Augusta National. He created quite a buzz after his round that Sunday at the Masters saying it was a bone he popped back into place.
“It’s fine,” Woods said. “I took a full week, didn’t lift at all. I did leg stuff but just didn’t do anything with my hand. Completely got away from it, anything with lifting or grabbing ... I was getting treatment every day through that period, and then after that started building up the strength in the hand and the forearm and then eventually the whole upper body.”
Woods was asked Tuesday how he learned to pop a joint back into place.
“I don’t know how,” Woods said. “It’s just like anything. You crack your back or your neck and it’s relief. Before it was like, ‘Man, it’s stuck.’ That’s what my wrist felt like, it was stuck, and the wrist wasn’t moving, and I could feel it getting tighter and tighter and tighter. So, it’s like a self-adjustment on your spine. I just did it on my wrist.”
Woods was in obvious pain after hitting the shot. He posted a 1-over-par 73 in the final round and tied for 17th at the Masters.
“It was just on the front of the wrist, like the base of the hand, and it was just a joint that kind of slipped out and I put it back in,” Woods said. “But it was more the swelling that we had to get rid. So, it’s a lot of ultrasound, a lot of icing, anti-inflamms, get it all out of there, and then we could start progressing and building it up.”
Woods said he feels good about his game this week and being able to build on momentum from the Masters.
