US Open champion Woods will miss The Open and USPGA to have knee surgery

The devastating news for the sport was revealed on Woods’s website, and underlines the magnitude of his achievement in limping his way to victory at the U.S. Open on Monday.

Tiger Woods grimaces after teeing off during his US Open triumph

Woods also revealed that he was suffering from a double stress fracture of his left tibia, thereby assuring that his extraordinary triumph will go down in history as the major he really did win standing on one leg.

Heaven knows how Retief Goosen and those other bitchy pros who thought he was exaggerating the extent of his pain must feel this morning.

They had better make sure they win what they can over the next six months, because clearly they will have no chance once he is on two good legs again.

The encouraging news on that front is that doctors have assured Woods the long-term prognosis is good, following the long lay-off to reconstruct his anterior cruciate ligament.

Woods all but admitted he had gone against medical advice to play last week. Following surgery after the Masters in April, he had not even walked 18 holes until the first day of the tournament, and was in obvious pain throughout the 91 holes it took to win.

Tiger Woods won the US Open in thrilling fashion on Monday with a play-off victory against Rocco Mediate

Fears that his obvious gamble in playing would cause long-term damage have been realised.

‘Now, it is clear that the right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee,’ said Woods, 32.

Inevitably, though, doubts will remain as to whether that troubled joint — this will be the fourth time he has had surgery on it — will remain strong enough to achieve his lifetime goal of overtaking Jack Nicklaus’s total of 18 majors. He is currently
on 14.

Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club who run The Open, said: ‘The R & A are very sorry indeed to hear that Tiger Woods is having further problems with his knee. We will miss him at The Open and we wish him well for a very
speedy recovery.’

The Open and the U.S. PGA in August will be the first majors Woods has missed since he turned pro in 1997.

As to when he will be back, his website says only that he will not play again this U.S. Tour season, which ends in early October.