JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods has a minor injury to his left knee and Achilles' tendon that will keep him out of the Wells Fargo Championship next week, raising more questions that his health might be the biggest obstacle in his chase of Jack Nicklaus' record.
Woods said on his website Tuesday that he hurt
himself hitting a shot during the third round of the Masters. It's the fourth
time he has missed a tournament because of his left knee. Woods did not say
when he might return, but he hopes to be back in a few weeks.
"This is precautionary. We're not at all
concerned," said Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG. "He's just
listening to his doctors, which is kind of nice. He certainly didn't listen to
them before the U.S. Open in 2008."
Woods won that U.S. Open in a playoff for his 14th
major. He hasn't won a major since then, leaving him four behind the record 18
professional majors won by Nicklaus.
Steinberg said Woods has been in a protective boot
when he's moving around and has not hit a shot since the Masters. He said Woods
considered playing the Wells Fargo until Tuesday.
Woods won at Quail Hollow in 2007 and had not
finished worse than 11th in four appearances until a year ago when he missed
the cut with his highest 36-hole score.
The following week is The Players Championship,
which Woods won in 2001, although it is not among his favorite courses. He has
finished in the top 10 only four times in 13 appearances and withdrew from the
final round a year ago with a neck injury.
Steinberg said there was a "reasonable
chance" Woods will be at The Players Championship.
"We'll do the same next week, do an early to
midweek test to see if it's good enough where he can be hitting the ball,"
he said.
Woods described this injury as minor — a mild
sprain of his medial collateral ligament in the left knee, along with a mild
strain to his left Achilles. Woods said the injury occurred when he had to
squat to play a shot from under the Eisenhower tree left of the 17th fairway.
His left foot got caught in the pine straw as the
momentum of the swing carried him backward. Woods hit into a front bunker and
saved par on his way to a 74, then shot 31 on the front nine Sunday to tie for
the lead. He wound up tied for fourth, and he appeared to be limping coming to
the 18th green.
Woods, who held a series of clinics in Asia the
week after the Masters, said he later sought a medical evaluation. He said
doctors have advised rest and cold-water therapy, along with soft tissue
treatment that is to begin this week.
"I personally contacted tournament officials
and expressed my regret in not being able to play," Woods said. "This
is an outstanding event, but I must follow doctors' orders to get better."
Woods also missed Quail Hollow in 2006 when his
father died and in 2008 while recovering from knee surgery.
"Apologies to tourney & fans, but working
hard to get healthy," he said on Twitter.
His health is becoming an issue with each year.
Woods already has had four operations on his left knee, dating to his freshman
year at Stanford to remove two benign tumors and scar issues. His most recent
surgery was after winning the U.S. Open in 2008, and he wound up missing the
next eight months after his left knee was rebuilt.
When he returned from a sex scandal last year at
the Masters, Woods revealed that he had ruptured the Achilles in his right leg
in December 2008, two months before he came back from the knee surgery. Woods
had a cortisone shot in his right ankle last December.
Woods, who has fallen to a No. 6 world ranking, has
not won since the Australian Masters in November 2009, the longest drought of
his career. Eleven majors have been played since he last won, the longest he
has gone without winning.
Nicklaus holds the record of 18 professional
majors, a mark that once looked to be easily within Woods' reach.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
