Woods Has Knee Surgery

When first I saw this, I had to check the date to make sure it was April 15, and not April 1. From the PGA Tour Site:

Tiger Woods underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Tuesday at Healthsouth Medical Center in Park City, Utah.

“I made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the surgery after the Masters,” Woods said of his knee procedure.

Woods is expected to be out for between 4-6 weeks. The rehabilitation schedule could threaten his title defense at the Wachovia Championship May 1-4, as well as his appearance at THE PLAYERS Championship the following week.

The U.S. Open, which will be played at Torrey Pines, a course where Woods has won six times, is eight weeks away. Woods finished second to Trevor Immelman on Sunday at the Masters Tournament, the season’s first major championship.

“I made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the surgery after the Masters,” Woods said on his Web site. “The upside is that I have been through this process before, and know how to handle it.

“I look forward to working through the rehabilitation process and getting back to action as quickly as I can.”

Woods won his first three starts this season—and seven of eight PGA TOUR events dating back to the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational last August. His victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard last month gave the 32-year-old a total of 64, tying him with the legendary Ben Hogan for third all-time.

PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said Woods’ presence will be missed.

Wow. I was just kidding yesterday when I wrote that Tiger might not win ANY majors this year. But lets see. He’ll have four to six weeks of rehab. The US Open is eight weeks out. He might be rusty. But then, he’ll be playing on a course that he absolutely owns. And coming of his last surgery, he won two of three.

I think he’s still got to be the favorite at Torrey Pines.