Tiger Woods had yet another surgery on his lower back Friday morning, with the latest procedure intended to relieve some of the spasms the 48-year-old PGA Tour star experienced this year.
It was the sixth surgery on his lower back in the span of a decade.
In a brief statement on social media, Woods described it as a microdecompression surgery of the lumbar spine for nerve impingement on the lower back. That also is referred to as a microdiscectomy, and the recovery time can be anywhere from eight to 12 weeks.
Woods was not scheduled to play again until the Hero World Challenge on Dec. 5-8 in the Bahamas, which he hosts, and the PNC Championship with his son Charlie on Dec. 21-22 in Orlando, Florida. Both of those events have smaller fields and are not official PGA Tour events.
“The surgery went smoothly, and I’m hopeful this will help alleviate the back spasms and pain I was experiencing throughout most of the 2024 season,” said Woods, whose 82 career wins on the PGA Tour are tied with Sam Snead for the record and whose 15 major tournament championships trail only the 18 of Jack Nicklaus.
Woods has played just five tournaments this year: the four majors (Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, British Open) and the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational in February at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, where he is the tournament host. He lasted only 24 holes at Riviera because of illness.
That was also the only tournament where he specifically mentioned back spasms, and that was while explaining a shank he hit on the 18th hole of the opening round. He said he had been dealing with spasms “not during competition, but at home.”
Asked the cause of the spams, he said curtly: “Because my back is fused.”
Woods had his first microdiscectomy in April 2014, two more the following year and then had his lower back fused in 2017. He had another microdiscectomy surgery in December 2020 to remove a pressurized disc fragment.
Two months later, he crashed his speeding SUV in Los Angeles, which shattered bones in his right leg and ankle, leading to another level of injuries he has coped with while trying to play a limited schedule.
“I look forward to tackling this rehab and preparing myself to get back to normal life activities, including golf,” Woods said in his statement.
He made the cut in only one tournament this year, the Masters, but set a record by making his 24th consecutive cut at Augusta National. This year was the first time he played all four majors since 2019, the year he won the Masters for the fifth time and his most recent major championship.