1. His ankle was already fused. He had this exact surgery on the same ankle in 2021, so he already had no mobility, hence his extreme difficulty walking Augusta. Apparently it needed to be redone?
2. Whole hypothetically this surgery is no different than the one he had before, through which he relearned to swing a golf club with perfect effectiveness… given his age, the time off, and the fact that he has had to repeat this surgery, it makes it really hard to see how he is realistically competitive ever again. He doesn’t even intend to play more than a few tournaments a year, and the finesse parts of his game looked more rusty than his longer game at Augusta, probably partially from lack of playing. Never say never, Phil looked terrible for a couple years before winning the PGA (and doing well at Augusta) and he’s been written off before winning in 2019… but it’s already tough to see where he really becomes a factor to win again. Maybe we’ll have one magical weekend in a couple years on a flatter course.