Tiger Woods, with the way things are going for the nearly 40-year-old fading superstar, is likely to add a 15th ailment to his injury count before he gets to that number in his increasingly hopeless quest to top 14 major championship titles.
A timeline of Tiger Woods’ many, many injuries
Tiger Woods has chalked up almost as many ailments as he has major championship trophies. The spate of setbacks continued this week with another major back surgery that will keep him out months.
Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports
Woods’ most recent injury (a second microdiscectomy surgery on his back within 17 months, performed on Wednesday), in a career filled with them, is just the latest in this chronological series of afflictions he has suffered since he turned pro:
1998: Strains back prior to Kemper Open in June.
2002: Surgery to remove fluid in his knee around the ACL.
April 2008: Cartilage in his left knee repaired after finishing second at the Masters.
June 2008: Surgery to reconstruct the ACL and fix additional cartilage damage in his left knee after winning the U.S. Open, while playing with pain in his knee and two stress fractures in his left tibia. Procedure sidelines Woods for the rest of the season.
May 2010: Reported bulging disc in his neck forces Woods out of the final round of The Players Championship but he returns to the Memorial Tournament in June after doctors determine he had an inflamed facet joint in his neck.
April 2011: Knee and Achilles tendon injuries incurred during the Masters knock Woods out of the Wells Fargo Championship in May.
May 2011: Sprained MCL ligament in his left knee and strained left Achilles tendon force Woods out of Players Championship for second straight year as he withdraws after nine holes. Back on the DL for three months, Woods misses U.S. and British Opens and returns to WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August.
March 2012: Pain in left Achilles’ tendon causes a WD from final round at Doral but Tiger returns in two weeks for Arnold Palmer Invitational.
June 2013: An elbow injury that occurred at The Players flares up at U.S. Open, shelving Woods until the British Open in July.
August 2013: Back spasm, which Woods blames on a soft mattress, drops Tiger to his knees during The Barclays.
March 2014: Lingering back pain and spasms cut short Woods’ Honda Classic, from which he withdraws on the 13th hole of the final round. He then grimaces throughout a final-round 78 at Doral and skips Bay Hill with lingering back pain.
April 2014: Microdiscectomy surgery to relieve a pinched nerve in his back forces Woods to miss the first Masters of his career.
August 2014: After tweaking his lower back while hitting from an awkward lie in a bunker on the second hole, continuing lower back pain forces a WD midway through the final round at Firestone.
February 2015: Inability to activate his glutes (lower back) forces a WD from the Farmers Insurance Open just 11 holes into his opening round.
September 2015: Despite regular claims that he’s healthy, and after making progress in his game at August’s Wyndham Championship where he finished T10, Tiger has a second microdiscectomy to remove a disc fragment that was pinching his nerve. Surgery forces him to miss upcoming Frys.com Open, Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup and Hero World Challenge. “This is certainly disappointing, but I’m a fighter,” says Woods, who hopes to return early next year. “I’ve been told I can make a full recovery, and I have no doubt that I will.”
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