Will Tiger Be Even Less Human When His Robot Knee Is Fully Operational?

We're smack dab in the middle of the FedEx Cup, which means, naturally, that it's time for a Tiger Woods update.

This is what happens when the world's best golfer goes on injured reserve and the contrived end-of-season playoffs is determined after two events (thanks, Vijay!).

Last month, Bacon wondered if this was the beginning of the end of the Tiger era, which, predictably, drew some level-headed responses from readers.

Well, Hank Haney (Woods' swing coach), who obviously has every reason to be objective, doesn't see how having a shiny, new knee "won't make Tiger better." Actually, that's a fair point, particularly when you consider that Woods claims his knee has been bothering him for years, and he's still be dominating the field.

But Haney's not a doctor, so maybe we should get a second opinion. From Jaime Diaz's extensive GolfDigest piece:

Though ACL injuries can be problematic for athletes who are required to make high-speed cuts and deal with contact, Woods is a golfer. For all the extreme forces that he supposedly puts on his left knee when swinging the club 125 miles per hour, orthopedic doctors say that ACL tears as a direct result of the golf swing are extremely rare.

Both Brad Faxon and Ernie Els, to name two professionals who recently underwent ACL reconstruction, were injured in activities outside of golf.

Long-drive champion/not a medical professional Art Sellinger basically agrees, saying that golfers who swing out of their shoes can have their lead knee give out due to hyperextending the joint through impact, but "I've never seen or heard of a long driver tearing up his ACL making a swing."

I suppose there's a chance Woods could return and, athletically, anyway, not be the player he once was. But his game is just as much about the above-the-neck stuff as it is about taking a 6-iron from a fairway bunker some 200 yards from the hole and landing his shot 18 feet from the pin. On the 72nd hole To win a tournament.

I'm guessing he'll be fine.