A month after undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee, Tiger Woods has been cleared to start full practice.
During an interview with Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan earlier this week, Woods said he ‘got the clearance last week to start full practice’ and ‘played nine holes the other day’.
Woods underwent the latest procedure on his knee last month, the fifth knee surgery of his career. Dr Vern Cooley, who performed the surgery, said at the time he expected Woods to make a full recovery.
Woods said the knee is ‘sore’ after his recent practice round but looks forward to getting back into playing shape.
‘Now I can start lifting and getting my muscle back and getting my weight up and doing all that stuff again,’ Woods said in the interview.
Woods’ next start on the PGA TOUR is expected to be The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Chiba, Japan (24 October). He’s also the US captain for The Presidents Cup in December and has not ruled out the possibility of being a playing captain. Woods will make his four captain’s picks in early November after the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions.
Although his back has been the focus of concern for much of the past six-plus years, this marks the fifth time that Woods, 43, has had his left knee operated on.
Woods’ first left-knee operation was to remove a benign tumor in 1994. The second and third were arthroscopic procedures in 2002 and in April 2008. He was told of two stress fractures in his tibia in May 2008, won the US Open in June, and eight days later had a fourth surgery on his ACL.
He missed the remainder of the 2008 season.
For a player who missed significant time from 2014-17, when he had successful back-fusion surgery, Woods has been relatively healthy the last two seasons.
At the 2018 TOUR Championship at East Lake, he notched his long-awaited 80th victory, the exclamation point on a terrific comeback season for a player whose career once seemed to be over. His 2019 season was highlighted by his Masters win, his 15th Major title. With 81 PGA TOUR wins, he’s now one behind Sam Snead’s record.
That was mostly it, though, for his 2018-19 season as Woods admitted to being worn out by the heroic victory at Augusta National. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black and was T21 at the US Open at Pebble Beach, despite having won on both courses. He missed the cut at The Open Championship and withdrew from THE NORTHERN TRUST with a mild oblique strain.
Although he won the 1999 and 2006 PGA Championships at Medinah, Woods never contended there, either, with a T37 at the BMW Championship. At 42nd in the FedExCup, his season was over.
Credit: PGA TOUR
