Tiger Woods has had a microdiscectomy to relieve nerve pain in his lower back and will not be competing in the Farmers Insurance Open next month or the Genesis Invitational next month.
An announcement came through Woods’ Twitter account that he had “recently undergone a microdiscectomy procedure to remove a pressurized disc fragment that pinched his nerve after experiencing post-PNC discomfort.”
Woods is no stranger to the proceedings. He had it done three times – once in the spring of 2014 and twice in the fall of 2015. He eventually underwent a more serious operation called a spinal fusion in April 2017, which left him unable to swing with a golf club for six months. .
He returned from that operation in 2018 and won the Tour Championship that year, followed by the Masters in 2019 and the Zozo Championship later that year.
Woods, 45, struggled for most of 2020, sometimes complaining of back stiffness and pain.
After scoring ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open a year ago, he never came close to competing in the eight tournaments he played for the rest of the year. He finished in joint 38th place at the Masters in November.
The PNC Championship is the 36-hole event he played with his 11-year-old son Charlie last month.
“I look forward to starting training and returning to the Tour,” Woods said in the statement, also acknowledging that he would not participate in either of the two tournaments in California he would play.
When Woods had the first back proceeding on March 31, 2014, he returned to the league in June of that year, although many thought it was too soon. He had the procedure again in September 2015 and six weeks later.