Tiger Woods Recovers from Knee Surgery

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by Ken Johnson

Tiger Woods had surgery on his left knee last week to repair cartilage damange. This was his 2nd operation in 5 years on the same knee. It is expected that he will miss at least a month in recovery. The surgery came 2 days after he finished 2 shots behind Trevor Immelman in the Masters. He will most likely miss The Players Championship. However, he should be back in time to play the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Woods made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the operation until after the Masters. He has been through this process before and knows how to handle it. Woods plans on working through the rehabilitation process and so that he can get back on the golf course as quickly as possible. Woods' left knee was operated on before in December 2002 and he also had surgery in 1994 on his left knee to remove a benign tumor.

His knee didn't seem to bother him the first 3 months of the season. He won his first 4 tournaments during his winning streak. However, Tiger has been experiencing pain in his knee since the middle of last year. When he had it looked at by his doctors, surgery was recommended. He has played through the pain in the past, but he knew it would be better for him to have the procedure done as soon as possible. The surgery repaired cartilage damage in his knee. 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 August. After tying for 2nd at the Deutsche Bank Championship to Phil Mickelson, he wound the final 2 events to win the FedEx Cup. He also won his Target World Challenge in December and his first 4 events until tying for 5th at Doral.

Other than pressing his foot against a cooler on the tee box and stretching his knee periodically, there were no other signs indicating that he was hurting. His recovery is expected to take 4-6 weeks which means that he will not be able to defend his title in May during the Wachovia Championship. He will also most likely miss The Players Championship which is one of 3 non-majors he has never missed since he started playing professionally.

Commissioner Tim Finchem stated that he was disappointed when he learned that Tiger would be unable to compete in a PGA Tour event. However, he recognizes that his health concerns have to be a priority.

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