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SPORTS Wednesday 28 august 2019

Woods has surgery on left knee for minor cartilage damage

By DOUG FERGUSON "It was bothering him, but Tour Championship. The
AP Golf Writer arthroscopic these days is final piece was a major,
A season that began with different than we had years and Woods delivered the
Tiger Woods celebrating and years ago," Steinberg most memorable week of
a fifth Masters title ended said. "He's up and walking the year in April at Augusta
with a fifth surgery on his left now. This will have no effect National when he won the
knee. on the fall or winter." Masters for his 15th major.
This one wasn't serious. Woods has a light sched- But that was his lone high-
Woods said Tuesday on ule the rest of the year — light.
Twitter he had arthroscopic Japan in late October, his He missed the cut in the
surgery last week to repair Hero World Challenge in PGA Championship and
what he described as mi- the Bahamas the first week the British Open and was
nor cartilage damage. In a of December and then the never a factor in the Me-
statement Woods released Presidents Cup at Royal morial or the U.S. Open. He
on social media, Dr. Vern Melbourne in Australia. He is withdrew after the opening
Cooley said he looked at the U.S. captain and could round of The Northern Trust
the rest of the knee and play as a captain's pick. He to start the FedEx Cup play-
found no additional prob- won't have to make that offs, and he failed to reach
lems. decision until a week after the Tour Championship. Tiger Woods, left, greets fans as he walks to the 14th fairway after
"I'm walking now and hope the Japan event. He said about his health hitting his tee shot during the final round of the BMW Champion-
ship golf tournament at Medinah Country Club, Sunday, Aug.
to resume practice in the Woods has dealt primar- at the BMW Champion- 18, 2019, in Medinah, Ill.
next few weeks," Woods ily with back issues the last ship that "body-wise it's the Associated Press
said, adding that he six years. He had the first of same. If it's not one thing,
looked forward to traveling four back surgeries in the it's another. Things just pop gest challenge of it all." another after the 2008
to Japan in October for a spring of 2014, and the last up." Woods first had surgery Masters to repair cartilage
planned Skins Game exhi- one in 2017 to fuse his lower "I'm making tweaks and on his left knee as a fresh- damage. Two months later,
bition and the ZoZo Cham- spine when it reached a changes trying to play man at Stanford in 1994 after winning the 2008 U.S.
pionship on Oct. 24-27. point he feared he might around this back and trying to remove two benign tu- Open, he had reconstruc-
Mark Steinberg, his agent never compete again. to be explosive and have mors and scar tissue. He tive surgery to repair his
at Excel Sports, described He returned a year later enough rest time and train- had arthroscopic surgery ACL. Steinberg described
the knee as little more than and capped off his come- ing time," he said at Medi- to remove fluid and cysts this surgery as "more clean-
"irritating." back with a victory in the nah. "That's been the big- after the 2002 season, and up maintenance."q