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Golf: Woods ruled out for a month after knee surgery
Wed. April 16, 2008 05:26 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
(SomaliNet) Tiger Woods who is expected to miss at least a month while he recovers, had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday to repair cartilage damage, his second operation in five years on the same knee.
The surgery, announced on his Web site, came two days after Woods finished three shots behind Trevor Immelman in the Masters. He most likely will miss The Players Championship, but should return in time to play the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on June 12.
"I made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the surgery for after the Masters," Woods said. "The upside is that I have been through this process before and know how to handle it. I look forward to working through the rehabilitation process and getting back to action as quickly as I can."
The surgery was performed in Park City, Utah, by Thomas Rosenberg, who also operated on Woods' left knee in December 2002. Woods also had surgery in 1994 on his left knee to remove a benign tumor.
While sudden, the news may not be all bad for Tiger. In 2003, after missing the start of the season following his second knee procedure, Woods won three of the first four tournaments he played upon his return. The first win came at the Buick Invitational, which was played at Torrey Pines, the same course that will host the U.S. Open in June.
Swing coach Hank Haney told the AP in phone interview he knew Woods' knee was bothering him, but was not aware of the surgery until Woods called him.
"He's been having a lot of trouble," Haney said. "He doesn't talk about stuff like that. He doesn't want to use excuses, you know? I don't think it affected his play. It affected his practice a little bit. He hit 14 greens in regulation on Sunday. Hard to say it was the knee."
Woods gave no indication his knee was bothering him the first three months of the season, when he won his first four tournaments to extend a winning streak that dated to September.
"Tiger has been experiencing pain in his knee since the middle of last year, and when he had it looked at by his doctors, arthroscopic surgery was recommended," said Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at IMG. "Tiger has played through the pain in the past, but knew it would be better for him to have the procedure done as early as possible."
Steinberg said the surgery repaired cartilage damage. The 2002 surgery drained fluid from around the anterior cruciate ligament and removed a benign cyst.
Woods won the Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship in consecutive weeks in August, the latter his 13th career major.
After tying for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship to Phil Mickelson, he won the final two events to capture the FedEx Cup, won his unofficial Target World Challenge in December, and won his first four events until tying for fifth at Doral last month. –Fox News
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