Tiger Woods undergoes ankle fusion surgery
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The operation was performed to address his post-traumatic arthritis from a previous talus bone fracture.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods announced on Wednesday that he is recovering from yet another ankle surgery to “address post-traumatic arthritis” in the right leg that he injured in a 2021 car wreck.
A post on the 15-time Major champion’s official Twitter feed said the 47-year-old underwent a subtalar fusion procedure at HSS Sports Medicine Institute in New York – an operation that was deemed successful.
The subtalar joint is located just below the ankle joint, and a fusion can relieve pain.
“Tiger is currently recovering and looks forward to beginning his rehabilitation,” the tweet said.
No timeline was given for Woods’ return but it is expected that he will miss the rest of 2023’s Majors – PGA Championship (May 18-21), US Open (June 15-18) and the British Open (July 20-23).
“You should anticipate at least a 12-week period of convalescence at home before you are able to resume your normal activities,” according to the OS.clinic (orthopaedic specialist) website.
It adds “you’ll have a plaster cast as high as your knee” for six weeks.
Woods had competed at the US Masters earlier in April, where he withdrew early in the third round complaining of a return of painful plantar fasciitis in his foot.
The ailment, inflammation of the tissue band on the bottom of the foot, had caused him to pull out of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in November.
The American had battled to make the cut at Augusta National, where weather delays made the event even more challenging, and was visibly limping at times on the storied course where he has won five times.
Woods has competed in just five tournaments since his February 2021 car crash, completing 72 holes only twice.
He played four rounds in his surprise return to golf at the 2022 Masters and at the Genesis Invitational PGA Tour event at Riviera Country Club in February.
He withdrew from the 2022 PGA Championship after making the cut and missed the cut at the British Open at St. Andrews.
Woods reiterated at Riviera that his competitive schedule would be extremely limited, saying he hoped to play in all four Majors and perhaps “a couple” of other events.
At Augusta, he acknowledged that he wonders each time he plays the Masters if it will be his last time there, adding that he felt “very lucky” to still have his right leg.
“The ability and endurance of what my leg will do going forward will never be the same. That’s why I can’t prepare and play as many tournaments as I like,” he said.
“But that’s my future and I’m OK with that.” AFP, REUTERS
