Tiger Woods has revealed he had a fifth surgery on his left knee. A procedure his good form earlier in the season delayed.
The former world number one will be in action this week at the Zozo Championship, a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in Japan.
Woods played a Skins competition on Monday alongside Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama. The Master Champion finished fourth but some rugby royalty was on hand to show Tiger Woods how it's done.
That time you holed a monster birdie putt in front of Tiger >>> That time you scored the hat trick in Paris @BrianODriscoll pic.twitter.com/ktIlTHcH7N
— Nathan Murphy (@nathanmurf) October 21, 2019
Speaking about the effect his knee pain was having on his game, Woods said:
“It got to where it was affecting the way I read putts. You could see it towards the end of the year I wasn’t getting down on my putts well,” he said. “Unfortunately, I’ve been down this road before and I knew the protocols.”
“It [left knee] just kind of deteriorated over the year,” Tiger Woods told reporters Monday at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club.
“It’s one of the reasons we were planning on doing it last year. But I screwed up by winning the Tour Championship and I thought I could keep it rolling.
Hopeful
Tiger Woods is "hopeful" the surgery can lead to his being more active at this stage of the season.
“It made me more hopeful that I could do all of the above, play this week, play [the Hero World Challenge] and play Australia. The way I was feeling towards the middle part of the year, it was going to be a tall order to be able to do it all.
“I’m excited about having this end-of-the-year run where I’m feeling fitter and I don’t have the achiness that I’ve been dealing with for the last couple years.”
“I want to be fit and ready for the end of the year,” he continued. “[I've] Been battling through this year. Nice to get over the hump and start feeling good again and go at it full speed.”
Tiger will be teeing it up in Japan in the early hours of Thursday morning in a star-studded field that includes Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Sergio Garcia.
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