Tiger Woods has back surgery again

Sep 21, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; Tiger Woods chips on the 11th green during the second round of the Tour Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

According to Golf Australia on Friday, golf superstar Tiger Woods of Cypress, California has had back surgery. Woods had microdepression surgery on his lumbar spine at the Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida. In recent times, Woods has experienced a nerve impingement in his lower back that has caused him a great deal of pain and aggravation.

Woods has not been pain free over the last decade. He has had injuries to his neck, oblique, knee, ankle and back. We cannot forget about the multiple injuries Woods suffered when he lost control of his SUV while driving in southern California in February of 2021. Even when Woods won the Masters in 2018, he had spinal fusion surgery in 2017, and then was relatively healthy for a year before an injury filled 2019 golf season.

A major question with Woods at the moment is whether or not he will ever be able to play high quality competitive golf again. Around the time of the 2024 British Open, Colin Montgomerie, the five-time Ryder Cup champion from Glasgow, Scotland, made controversial headlines when he wondered whether or not Woods was embarrassing himself, and recommended retirement.

Well, before you state that is not an appropriate comment for Montgomerie to make, one must realize we have not seen the best of Woods for a while. Over the last year, he withdrew from the Genesis Open, finished in 60th place at the Masters (+16), missed the cut at the PGA Championship (+7), missed the cut at the United States Open (+7), and missed the cut at the British Open (+14).