Tiger Woods should put an operating theatre in his Florida mansion on Jupiter Island. Woods has had a seventh surgery on his back. This time it’s to install a lumbar-disc replacement to address issues caused by a collapsed disc in his lower back. He’s expressing optimism that he could come back to play again, but there is no timeline.

The 15-time Major winner has always said he’ll never be a ceremonial golfer. So unless this surgery works miracles we have seen the last of him playing at golf’s top events. Says former PGA Tour player Johnson Wagner, “I just don’t see a world where we see him play in The Masters again — and that makes me very sad. I think his body is just beaten down, and I don’t think he can do it anymore.”

Since his days dominating the Tour ended Woods had expressed hope that he might add one more major— The U.S. Senior Championships— to his haul of 82 tournament wins. That seems a distant hope now as the 49-year-old looks unlikely to play in 2026 or 2027.

It’s also bad news for the PGA’s Champions Tour, where +50 former stars of the main Tour have extended their careers and made more prize money (Calgary hosts the Canadian stop.) The dream of what used to be called the Seniors Tour was to extend the visibility of the game’s drawing cards.

In the years after 1980, when the Seniors was established, the Tour did just that with star players such Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin and Chi-Chi Rodriguez active. Along the way Fred Couples, John Daly, Ernie Els and more also won tournaments on the North American tour. Some used it to stay sharp for the U.S. and British Senior Opens. Others just enjoyed extending their careers while doing a little fishing.

But the great hope was that Woods and Phil Mickelson would highlight the Tour once their days on the regular Tour were done. Mickelson, however, has aligned himself with the rival LIV Tour, forgoing the PGA Champions.. That left Woods, the TV ratings magnet, to be the marquee attraction for the Tour. But that seems a faint hope now with this latest surgery. And the vast amount of money he’s already accumulated pounding these aging golfers into the turf.

Which has many in the know now suggesting the PGA Tour might just fold the Champions for good. While charisma-challenged Bernhard Langer has dominated the money-winners list well into his 60s, the star power of marquee names from the 1980s, ‘90s and 2000s has been sparse. Els, Retief Goosen, Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington still compete and win. But a steady diet of Steve Alker, Richard Bland, Ken Tanigawa and Canada’s Stephen Ames leaves the viewing audience cold.

So could the Champions be reduced or eliminated? Without the promise of Woods teeing it up the future looks bleak. Nothing that happens in professional golf these days should surprise anyone, however. Since the arrival of the Saudi-sponsored LIV Tour stole a generation of stars such as Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau the viewing public is baffled by what was traditionally a very stable lineup of tournaments from January through September.

There have been active negotiations the last two years between the LIV Tour and what remains of the PGA Tour, spearheaded by Rory McIlroy,. But so far no one has come up with a solution that puts golf’s Humpty Dumpty back together again. LIV has proven it can outspend the Tour if it comes to a spending contest so waiting for bankruptcy to return the LIV players to the PGA is a non-starter.

Fans are naturally disappointed and confused about the shifting picture. But as the rowdy Ryder Cup at NYC’s Beth Page Black demonstrated the sport can still command centre stage— even against an NFL weekend of games. The winning Europeans were demonized by hecklers and boors, adding a frisson of danger to the event.

It was must-see TV, even if it was rude. The geopolitical conflict reminded sponsors and networks of the potential for golf to once again capture the imagination of a global sports audience. If it just finds the right format.

Then there’s the Happy Gilmore factor. Adam Sandler’s second installment of the comedy series was a huge hit for Netflix with its blend of juvenile humour, celebrity cameos, golf greats, Bad Bunny and a flimsy plot about a futuristic tour involving Haley Joel Osment and supercharged golf course. Not much made sense beyond the appeal of golf. But non-golfers watched. (Owen Wilson’s series Stick has also been good story for golf.)

The plot inclusion of a rival league is a light-hearted jab at LIV— but also at the new TGL indoor competition that started last winter in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Fronted by Woods and featuring a number of current stars playing for various cities it has mechanical greens that rotate to mimic a real course and simulated holes on golf simulator.

Its biggest drawback is that the personalities of the Arnie/ Jack era half a century ago are largely missing from the men now dominating golf. Scotty Scheffler is affable. Tommy Fleetwood is modest. Justin Thomas has the charisma of a CPA. What the product needs are more Dalys and Shane Lowrys. But the fantastic purses they’ve earned have dulled the edge of golf’s legends post WW II.

For now, Woods will rehab, the sponsors will hold their breath and the audience will nod off on the couch till something reminds them of what they used to love.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

There’s a truism that the real world bears no resemblance to the worlds we imagine in our heads. From far-right patriots stockpiling guns in the mountains of Wyoming to unhinged antifa voidoids shouting “Nazi” at the McGill quad, the real world offers no resemblance to the ones they’re demonizing. The same goes for centre-middle voters who still watch the network 6 PM news or the wolves on Wall Street creating a new equity bubble..

Their assumptions are based on narratives created with themselves at the centre of an epic national struggle. In Canada, for instance, the only constants in the consciousness have been hockey and the equalization scheme. In the U.S. honouring Old Glory and the constitution is a stronger bond, but the national myth is still diffuse. Rarely have the two nations shared an animating principle.

Until this moment. Now there is a central force at work on both sides of the border. A core issue so deep and dangerous that all agree it forms the heart of their current existence. We speak, of course, of Donald J. Trump, the 45/47 POTUS. For better or worse, the cult of the Donald forms the seminal belief system in both America and Canada. He is, in the words of Mark Carney, transformational.

The reasons are not the same. For the Left Trump is the vulgar partisan leading America to ruin and perhaps civil war, For the Right he is the avenger, the fearless force for goodness who will restore America to greatness. Both sides laugh at him. For the Left it’s a derisive cackle. For the Right, it’s an affectionate chortle.

But neither side dares ignore him at the moment. Some might say, what about Obama? Wasn’t he a transforming force in his 2008-2016 presidency? Actually Obama’s overwhelming privilege in the absence of accomplishment is the reason Trump has ascended to this status. After the former leader of the Choom Gang in Hawaii had his pals curb-stomp Mitt Romney in 2012 the Right sought someone who fought dirty, too. Who’d punch back.

And they got him in Trump, who has perfected the intervention method used by Blake, the brutal salesman manager in Glengarry Glen Ross. Raw, unsparing, unforgiving. “Put that coffee down! Coffee’s for closers only. You think I’m fucking with you? I am not fucking with you! I’m here from downtown. I’m here from Mitch and Murray. And I’m here on a mission of mercy. Your name’s Levine? You call yourself a salesman, you son of a bitch?

Dave Moss: I don’t gotta sit here and listen to this shit.

Blake: You certainly don’t, pal, ’cause the good news is… you’re fired. The bad news is… you’ve got, all of you’ve got, just one week to regain your jobs starting with tonight.”

Like Trump, Blake flaunts his wealth. “This watch costs more than your car. I made $970,000 in sales commissions last year. How much you make? You see, pal, that’s who I am, and you’re nothing.”

He’s unapologetic. “I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to. They asked me for a favour. I said the real favour, follow my advice and fire your fucking ass, because a loser is a loser!” His rude style has ended the Obama era for good.

In the wake of crushing Hamas he has rendered America’s progressive Left a stammering shell of its former self. Its Boomer demo is dazed, and its radical Left is talking insurrection. They tried to shoot him (twice), they tried to jail him. They tried to impeach him. They tried to link him to Jeffery Epstein. He was undeterred. Came back stronger as president in 2024. You may not like it, but those are the facts.

If America has a Trump fixation, it’s no less toxic in Canada where his intervention in the 2025 federal election shattered the polite conceits Canadians live with. He grabbed Trudeau by his fashionable lapels and hissed, “You’re a nice guy? I don’t give a shit. Good father? Fuck you! Go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here? Close!”

In America, this straight talk created a debate on its future. Faced with the same raw assessments of their nation as no better than a 51st state, Canadians rejected Trump’ and elected the nostalgia party of Mark Carney, flown in at the last minute to bury Trudeau’s mess. Assisted by their purchased media the Liberals avoided all talk of the country’s perilous finances, indigenous claims and separation threats. And ran on Trump.

Not much has changed since. Canadians eager to avoid self assessment have boycotted U.S. alcohol and travel. Their Laurentian elites— who months before considered their country a genocidal state— now paint rosy portraits of their land. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s critical style is demeaned. All because of Trump.

Meanwhile, Carney’s Liberals gave Stellantis about $15 billion for EV battery production but failed to secure any guarantees. Stellantis now will cease plans for Jeep Compass production originally slated for Brampton Ontario, and relocate their operations to Illinois. Ontario premier Doug Ford is blaming Trump.

In spite of the repeated blows to the economy, Trump’s role as whipping boy remains unshakeable in Canada nine months after the election. We would like to say you can only blame Trump for so long. Surely the impending $100B deficit budget and talk of Alberta/ Quebec cession will stir some to stop blaming the man staging the intervention and look at themselves.

But this being Canada you’d probably be wasting your breath. Already there is talk of a snap winter election to restore the Liberal majority before the NDP choose a new leader. The bot world keeps ignoring the flames while saying what a lovely fireplace! After urging Palestinian statehood Carney scurries to the Hamas ceasefire ceremony where Trump calls him “president”.

You can’t make this stuff up, But until reality destroys the fantasy worlds in his opponents’ heads expect Blake to knock on the door to announce, “We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired. Get the picture?”

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.