Tiger Woods A Doubt For The Masters After Surgery

The 15-time Major winner has undergone a fifth back surgery

Tiger Woods A Doubt For The Masters After Surgery

Tiger Woods looks to be a doubt for the Masters in April after it was announced that he had undergone a fifth surgery on his back.

The 15-time Major winner and five-time Masters champion has recently had a microdiscectomy procedure to remove a pressurised disc that was pinching his nerve.

Woods was said to be in pain during December's PNC Championship, where he and his son Charlie finished in 7th position.

The 45-year-old is out of both the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines next week and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera next month, which he has confirmed that he will attend as host.

However the elephant in the room is The Masters, which is now less than 10 weeks away.

It looks very unlikely that Woods will be able to have a tune-up before Augusta and it could well be that he has to sit out the year's first Major.

"Tiger has recently undergone a microdiscectomy procedure to remove a pressurized disc fragment that was pinching his nerve after experience discomfort during the PNC Championship," an official statement read.

"His doctors and their team have determined it to be successful and expect him to make a full recovery."

"I look forward to begin training and am focused on getting back out on Tour," Woods said.

Woods' last back surgery came in 2017 when he had a spinal fusion after withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic.

The operation essentially prolonged his career, with Nick Faldo revealing that Woods said he thought he would never play golf again.

The spinal fusion allowed him to continue to compete and he has won three times on the PGA Tour since the procedure, including at the 2019 Masters.

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