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Peyton Manning said Wednesday that he can relate to Tiger Woods' comeback from a serious back injury after he spent extended time on the shelf following several procedures on his neck in 2011.
"He has learned to play golf in a new physical state, which is kind of what I had to do coming off my neck injury where had some nerve damage," Manning said after playing with Woods at the Memorial Tournament pro-am on Wednesday, per Golfweek's Brentley Romine. "And you have to be flexible and be adaptive, and he has certainly done that."
Manning added: "I couldn't throw the ball the same way, didn't throw it as far. But you use your legs and you use your intellect and your experience, and you can still, as Hank Stram said, matriculate down the field. So Tiger can still matriculate down these fairways."
Manning's ball never had the same zip after he missed the entire 2011 season, but he was still able to help lead the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl 50 title over the Carolina Panthers in February 2016.
Woods, meanwhile, has played some encouraging golf during his first full season back from a series of back surgeries. In eight starts since January, Woods has logged two top-10 finishes. Most recently, he placed 11th at The Players Championship.
This weekend, Woods will try to nab his first win since the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational when he tees it up at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
Incidentally, Woods has won the Memorial Tournament five times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2012). Thanks to that history and his recent run of form, Woods is tied with Jordan Spieth for the third-best odds (+1600) to come away with Memorial hardware, according to OddsShark.