Lee Trevino insists the game of Tiger Woods remains as good as ever - but warned that the 15-time Major champion still harbours concerns about his ability to walk 72 holes, even on the relatively flat Old Course layout.
Woods required emergency surgery in order to stave off the threat of amputation after his infamous LA car crash 17 months ago and has struggled to cope with the physical demands of tournament golf since making his latest comeback at this year's Masters.
He made the cut at Augusta National and at the PGA Championship the following month, but was forced to withdraw from the latter after three rounds before skipping the US Open to recover in time for the 150th Open at St Andrews.
Trevino, a two-time Open winner himself, was impressed with what he saw from the 46-year-old during the R&A Celebration of Champions on Monday, but admitted Woods needs to be "very careful" if he wants to keep his right leg.
"Tiger is still hitting it just as far, just as high, putting just as well," Trevino said. "He said to me, ‘My problem is I can’t walk'. I’m just glad he’s alive. He has to be very careful that he doesn’t get to the point where he loses that leg.
"They’re working like hell to keep it. He got mashed up a little bit. He got mashed up a little bit. But it hasn’t bothered his playing a bit."
Tiger surprised the golfing world in December when he teed it up at the parent-child PNC Championship alongside son Charlie, only 11 months on from his career-threatening accident. He was granted the use of a cart by tournament organisers but Trevino added he was quick to shut down any notion of doing the same this week.
"He says, ‘I’m not taking a cart'. He said, ‘I will not take a cart.’ He said, ‘If I can’t walk, I’m not playing.’ I can understand that.
“It’s gonna be tough. You can’t just go all of a sudden in a straight line. He’s gonna have to wiggle a little bit on some of the holes because of the ups and downs.
"Bunkers will be difficult for him, but he hasn’t hit into one yet. I was gonna tell him, you need to aim at that bunker, man – you need to know how to get out of there. I’m talking about physically. I’m not talking about hitting the shot and seeing if he can get out.
"I don’t know what the prognosis is. I don’t think they can do any more with it. I think they just work on it with all types of therapy and whatever trying to get the circulation right, in other words to where he can keep it. I think that’s his main goal. That’s his main goal."
