Golfing legend Tiger Woods has confirmed that he underwent surgery on a ruptured Achilles suffered while training at home recently.
Woods, who has most recently been seen competing for Jupiter Links Golf Club in the brand-new TGL golf league, is now set to miss the majority, if not all, of the major season, with the unofficial fifth major, the Players Championship, getting underway on Thursday.
The two-time winner at TPC Sawgrass was one of four players who did not take up their spot to tee it up in Florida this week, but the official reason for his absence was unknown.
Woods was initially in the field for the Genesis Invitational last month, withdrawing following the sad passing of his mother Kultida, but he did play in Jupiter's final regular season match against Atlanta Drive last Monday.
It is not clear whether competing at the Players was on Woods's schedule, but it now appears as though he could miss all four majors this year too.
Woods announces yet another injury setback
In a career that has produced so many highs, it is now unfortunately being bookended by devastating lows.
On Tuesday evening, Woods released a statement confirming that he had gone under the knife to repair a ruptured Achilles he appeared to suffer innocuously at home.
The statement read: "As I began to ramp up my own training and practice at home, I felt a sharp pain in my left Achilles, which was deemed to be ruptured.
"This morning, Dr Charlton Stucken of the Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida performed a minimally invasive Achilles tendon repair for a ruptured tendon." Woods continued.
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"I am back home now and plan to focus on my recovery and rehab, thank you for all the support."
Woods is expected to make a full recovery from the surgery, but following multiple serious injuries over the past few years, the demands of being a modern-day golfer are taking its toll, and the 15-time major winner is struggling to compete at the very top.
Woods's devastating injury history
Spending time away from the course recovering from injury is sadly nothing new for the 49-year-old, who even defied science to win major titles despite suffering from serious setbacks.
Woods famously won the 2008 US Open despite playing through the pain of a stress fracture to the left tibia and damage to his anterior cruciate ligament, only a few weeks after coming second at the Masters with an ongoing knee injury.
Between 2014 and 2016, Woods's career began to unravel, with many niggling injuries leading to withdrawals, before he was arrested for driving under the influence of prescribed painkillers in 2017.
The career-changing incident came in February 2021 though, when Woods was involved in a serious car accident that caused injuries so severe to his lower right leg that amputation was almost a consideration.
Ever since, Woods has struggled to see out 72 holes in tournaments where he has been able to make the cut, with heartbreaking images of the legendary golfer struggling to walk around some of America's most challenging courses becoming all too common.
The Players will go on without Woods this week, and Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa are among the pre-tournament favourites, with the former going for an unprecedented three-peat.
Andrew Delaney
