Tiger Woods underwent surgery on his right ankle to relieve arthritis from a broken bone on Wednesday morning.
This calls into question his participation in other major tournaments this year.
Woods announced the operation on Twitter, stating that it was a subtalar fusion for arthritis, stemming from a broken foot suffered in February 2021.
“He’s resting and he’s going to start the recovery process,” Mark Steinberg, his agent at Excel Sports, said in a phone interview.
The operation took place in New York. Steinberg said Woods returned home near Jupiter, Florida to begin his rehabilitation.
As for when Woods might start playing golf again, Steinberg said there is no timeline.
“The first goal is to recover and lead a much more pleasant daily life,” he said.
The injuries were so severe that doctors considered amputation.
Woods underwent numerous leg surgeries as a result of the accident.
It’s his ankle that’s been giving him the most trouble lately; he limped at four of the last five major tournaments including the Masters two weeks ago.
Fractured in February 2021, the astragalus is the second largest of a group of bones called the tarsus, which forms the lower part of the ankle joint and transmits body weight from the lower leg to the foot .
The subtalar joint allows the lateral movements necessary for walking, especially on uneven surfaces.
By most estimates, recovery after subtalar arthrodesis is eight to twelve weeks.
That for all intents and purposes rules out the PGA Championship in mid-May.
The US Open will run from June 15-18, and the British Open from July 20-23.
Woods made an unlikely comeback 14 months after the car crash, taking part in the entire Masters Tournament.
Remarkably, he missed qualifying just once, last summer at the British Open in St. Andrews.
He retired after three rounds at the PGA Championship last year, as well as midway through the third round at Augusta this year.
Woods cited plantar fasciitis as the reason for his withdrawal in the latter case.
He has already undergone five back operations. He has often said that the problem is not in hitting the ball, but in covering the distances between shots.
Woods has previously said his schedule will be limited to majors and maybe a few others like the PNC 36-hole Championship with his son, where he can use a golf cart.
