Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Woods Undergoes Surgery, Out 4 Weeks

Just out today, with ESPN reporting on this one.

Tiger Woods had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday and will miss at least four weeks while he recovers.

It was the third time Woods has had surgery on his left knee, the most recent in 2003 when he missed the start of the season. His agent said he had been experiencing pain since the middle of last year.

"I made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the surgery after the Masters," Woods said on his Web site. "The upside is that I have been through this process before, and know how to handle it.

The surgery means Woods is likely to miss The Players Championship for the first time, but should return in time for the U.S. Open.

Well, we will have a new champion at Wachovia, and Woods cannot redeem himself at the "5th major." That will hurt the PGA Tour and Tim Finchem knows it.

"Of course, we're disappointed when Tiger is unable to compete in a PGA Tour event," Finchem told the tour's Web site. "He's the No. 1 player in the world and a fan favorite wherever he goes. There is really never a good time for an athlete -- especially one of Tiger's caliber -- to take weeks off from competition during the season, but his health concerns have to come first."

On the plus side, Tiger is going to be awfully angry and itching to get back for the US Open. Wouldn't you be if you had almost 2 months off of your feet at full strength to think about what was, in your opinion, a stinging failure?

2 comments:

The Florida Masochist said...

Ryan,

Tiger was off for two months once before, after coming 3rd at the Masters. What did he do in his first tournament back?

Miss the cut at the 2006 US Open.

I think we can make an argument for rust too.

Cheers,

Bill

Waggle Room Ryan said...

This is a bit of a different situation. The time he took off was because he knew his father would be dying, then did die. He was in no shape to play at the US Open, in my mind. Not to say that coming back from minor knee surgery will not produce rust, but it does seem comparatively easier.