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Good morning! FYI: We have printable blank brackets here (women’s) and here (men’s). It’s that time.
This Is (Probably) the End: Tiger’s latest big injury feels different
Injuries have been the constant in Tiger Woods’ career since 2008, when he supermanned his way through a left knee injury to win an all-time U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Some of those injuries have been severe — his constant back ailments, his disfigured right leg after a 2021 single-car crash — so it’s not new to wonder if Woods’ competitive playing days might be over. But this time feels different.
Woods had surgery Tuesday to repair his ruptured left Achilles tendon, the same tissue that bugged him many injuries ago in 2011 and ‘12. He is out indefinitely. You should not expect to see him play in the majors this year. In 2024, he played in all four but missed cuts everywhere but the Masters. His only other start was at his own tournament, where he withdrew in the middle of the second round because of illness.
Tiger is Tiger, but the human body is the human body, and his will be 50 next season. That was Phil Mickelson’s age when he became the oldest major winner ever in 2021. But in the run-up to that, Mickelson was playing 20-plus PGA Tour events every year to get into form. Tiger will have made 14 starts in five years, and he’s been crystal clear that he’s not interested in playing events as a de facto mascot with no chance to win. Granted, his vision of his chances might be different than yours or mine, but it would make sense for Woods to just be done now.
Is that too fatalistic an outlook for the 15-time major winner? I asked Brendan Quinn, a senior enterprise writer at The Athletic who’s covered Woods for years:
💬 Maybe I’m naive, but I accepted Tiger’s competitive end point long before this latest surgery. He has said countless times in recent years that his body can no longer endure the practice regimens required to play against the best players in the world. I always heard that as him saying he can’t win, even if he can’t say those actual words out loud.
Woods still has a lot of irons in the fire. He has his new simulator league, an apparel brand that just signed its first non-Tiger player, a golf course design business, a tournament he hosts, and an active role in PGA Tour governance. What happens to his influence when he’s done playing?
💬 Tiger will not be going anywhere because the world won’t let him. Golf certainly won’t. In other sports, new transformative figures come along and allow the last guy to slide back. Jordan begat Kobe. Kobe begat LeBron. In golf? Is the person who can approach Tiger’s star power even born yet? Maybe? Realistically? Probably not.
He’ll remain the on-course measuring stick, too. Scottie Scheffler is barely one-third of the way to Tiger’s 281-week record streak atop the Official World Golf Ranking. Second place on that list? Also Tiger. Read Brody Miller for more on that.
News to Know
Selection Sunday is here
You can pencil in the four No. 1 seeds in men’s hoops: Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston. The Cougars cut the nets down in the Big 12, while the Blue Devils (sans Cooper Flagg) notched their first ACC title sweep in nearly 20 years. Here’s what to watch for on Selection Sunday:
- Tennessee vs. Florida in the SEC championship game. Could a Tennessee win knock Florida off the top line?
- Speaking of the SEC, it may very well be a 14-bid league if Texas can sneak in.
- A lane violation in the ACC semifinal has UNC on the brink of missing the Big Dance for the second time in the last three years.
Keep up to date with our latest bracket projections — men’s and women’s — before the madness begins.
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Russell Lansford / Imagn Images
NWSL Returns: More money, familiar problems
2024 was a big year for the National Women’s Soccer League. As a sports business story, the league is a firecracker. (See Dan Shanoff’s roundup in MoneyCall to get a sense of how much cash is pouring in.) Now comes the most important part: The NWSL needs to keep up the momentum on the field, with more people than ever watching and investing. The new season started on Friday; all 14 teams are in action this weekend. Here’s our big cheat sheet on the season, written by esteemed soccer writers Meg Linehan and Jeff Rueter.
There are many good signs as this campaign begins:
- As Wayne Coffey writes this week, the NWSL is competing more and more for elite young players, using carrots like the abolition of its draft to entice young stars away not just from European leagues but also the American college ranks.
- The quality of competition has gotten really, really good. The league has great players. Prep yourself with Rueter’s list of the critical players for each club.
There’s work left to do, though. Linehan points out that the league is still feeling out its place in the American sports scene. Beyond that, the NWSL will always be just one part of a competitive global market for players. A spate of recent stars leaving the league shouldn’t be cause for panic, as Rueter and Linehan recently wrote, but illustrates the challenge of not just attracting top talent but retaining it. On that note, Washington Spirit fans should enjoy Trinity Rodman while they have her.
I, Alex, recommend checking out a match if you’re in an NWSL market. I got to my first one last year in Los Angeles and saw former USWNT stalwart Sydney Leroux score a stoppage-time winner for Angel City FC against Chicago. The crowd was loud, and I realized the league was onto something when the traffic was just as bad as it would’ve been for a USC football game. If you’re not near a team, here’s the league’s helpful streaming and TV guide. It ain’t expensive.
Pulse Picks
Jordan Chiles made headlines last summer when she had her Olympics bronze medal reallocated after a court ruling. But she certainly won’t let that moment define her.
Want to win your bracket group? Before Selection Sunday, check out this required reading on mastering the science behind picking upsets.
Matthew Futterman looks back at the Williams sisters’ 14-year boycott of Indian Wells and Serena’s subsequent return to Palm Springs 10 years ago.
Test your knowledge of the last week in sports news with our latest quiz.
Which NBA fan base has had it the worst this season? I think you can guess which team tops The Misery Index.
Pablo Maurer has a dispatch from Jamaica, where Inter Miami and Lionel Messi‘s recent trip to play Cavalier FC caused a sensation.
Most-clicked in Friday’s newsletter: Our newser on the fastest goal in NHL overtime history.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Futterman’s story on the Williams sisters, mentioned above.
(Top photo: Greg Lovett / Palm Beach Post / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
