The 15-time major winner had surgery on Tuesday, and the Master was tee-off after four weeks.
All the biggest names of golf are not part of the world’s largest golf tournament at August National in April. That’s because 15 major winners and five master champions Tiger Woods missed the first major of the year after tore Achilles’ tendons. Woods had surgery to repair it on Tuesday, and he will be out indefinitely while he is recovering.
Woods broke the news on social media on Tuesday afternoon shortly after the surgery.
“This morning, Dr. Charlton Stacken from the hospital performed a minimally invasive Achilles tendon repair for the ruptured tendon. “The surgery goes smoothly and we expect a full recovery,” Dr. Stacken added.
“I’m going home now and focusing on recovery and rehabilitation. I’d like to thank all the support.”
This is the latest setback for Woods, which was already a rough start to 2025. His mother, Kurchida Woods, passed away on February 4th. This came nine days before Woods was scheduled to make his season debut on the PGA Tour at the Genesis Invitational. Woods had entered his name into the field for the event. However, he ultimately retreated three days before the event was tee-off as he said he was not ready and still dealing with his mother’s death.
Related Stories
The Genesis Invitational, hosted by Woods’ Charity, The Tiger Woods Foundation, has been forced to move from the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles to Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego due to wildfires affecting Southern California.
Therefore, Woods has not competed on the PGA Tour since last July when he missed a cut at the 2024 Open Championship. He played in four of his Jupiter Links Golf Club team’s five TGL matches, but the TGL season is already over as he failed to make the TGL postseason.
Woods is no stranger to injuries or surgery, and he last had surgery in September 2024 for back pain. He also nearly lost his leg in a February 2021 car accident that required multiple operations. Since that accident, Woods has participated in 11 PGA Tour events, eight of which are majors that include three master tournaments. Various withdrawals and missed cuts led Woods to play all four rounds in four of these 11 tournaments.
Since Masters debuted as an amateur in 1995, Woods has competed in 26 of 30 Masters events. He missed the majors as he recovered from back operations and back pain in 2014, 2016 and 2017, and again in 2021 after a car accident. At last year’s event, Woods set a record high in most cuts (24) at the Masters of Career, beating the tie he held alongside Fred Couple and Gary Player.
But it was the only bright spot in his final appearance at Augusta National Golf Club as Woods shot 10 over 82 in the third round. He finished the 2024 Masters with a total of 304 with 72 holes. This is not only the best score at Masters, but also the best score at every major, as well as the best score at professional tournaments.
Woods owns five green jackets and won the event for the last time in 2019. This was his last big victory, and he won the second PGA Tour last. He also won in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005, as his five victories are only six of Jack Nicklaus’s most ever.
There is a slight precedent that Woods can follow in regards to golfers returning from torn Achilles tendons, despite not all injuries and subsequent surgeries being the same. Two-time Masters champion Bernhardlanger tore Achilles in February 2024, and was forced to miss the 2024 Masters a few weeks later. Langer, who competes on the Senior PGA Tour, was 66 at the time, while Woods was 49.
Langer also had surgery and was able to return to the competition just three months later, but he was able to use his cart to compete at Insperity Invitational. Nine months after his November 2024 injury, Langer, 67, used his cart to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on the Senior Tour. Then, just a month later, Langer and son Jason defeated Tiger Woods and son Charlie in the playoffs to win the PNC Championship. Langer used cart for the two-day event, while Woods wasn’t, but the previous world No. 1 can use Langer as a source of inspiration for the future.
