Put-Back-Together 40-Year-Old-Man Said To Now Be Hitting Drivers

It's amazing how Tiger moves the needle even in his injured state, and it's also fascinating that Team Woods, following much silence, is eager to let us know their man is on the comeback road.

Tim Rosaforte reported on Golf Central that Woods was actually back hitting drivers at the end of last week.

Brandel Chamblee has seen the Tweeted "progressing nicely" video and while the assessment is harsh, as Alex Myers at GolfDigest.com notes, it's also ultimately accurate.

"I can say it looks like an injured, and a put-back-together, 40-year-old man," Chamblee said on Golf Channel. "It's a very short, quick, golf swing. It doesn't look like he's ready for tournament play."

On the needle moving from, Reuters' Rick Horrow secured some insights into Tiger's impact on the Honda Classic from Ken Kennerly, the tournament's executive director.

"He still delivers that fringe fan that golf needs. We saw it directly when Tiger hurt himself and couldn't play last year's Honda Classic ... the spike in ticket sales we normally get leading up to the tournament had softened a little bit.

"What does that mean in dollars and cents? Probably a couple of hundred thousand dollars that we did not see, that would have come through the gates because people still wanted to see Tiger. He is still an enormous asset for this game."

Update on 2016-02-26 07:22 by Geoff

**On Tiger's progress, Ryan Lavner quotes John Cook ("fine") and Notah Begay, who is staying with Woods this week. Begay was present for the simulator session.

“He’s moving along, progressing,” Begay said Thursday on “Morning Drive”. “He’s in a good frame of mind, and I think that’s the most important thing. It’s just about being patient with injuries. You get older, they’re harder to overcome, and I think he’s doing a great job staying patient.”