Tiger Woods’s Persistent Back Issues Come to Forefront With Surgery

Woods had a sixth back procedure last week, a reminder that he's struggling with more than just the leg injuries sustained in his 2021 car crash.

Tiger Woods missed the cut in three of four majors in 2024. / John David Mercer/Imagn

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As Tiger Woods has attempted a limited golf schedule since his horrific February 2021 car crash, focus has understandably been on his severely damaged right leg, and his ability to walk and recover.

Often underplayed are the serious back issues that never left him.

Woods remarkably returned from 2017 spinal fusion surgery to win three times, including the 2019 Masters.

But just two months prior to the car accident, Woods had a fourth microdiscectomy in December 2020. He had the fifth last week, and added to his spinal fusion, it means six back procedures in 10 years.

It partly helps to explain his struggles on the course in 2024.

His ankle and foot issues have improved, though Woods rarely provides much specific detail about his back other than to say it is an ongoing struggle.

In his statement on Friday after the surgery, Woods said he was hopeful it will “help alleviate the back spasms and pain I was experiencing throughout most of the 2024 season.”

At his first tournament at the Genesis Invitational in February, Woods withdrew during the second round due to illness. But during the first round, he hit a shank on his approach shot to the 18th green and afterward said he had a back spasm that impacted him.

At the Masters, after an impressive second-round 72 in difficult conditions saw him make the cut for the 24th consecutive time, Woods fell apart during the third round, and it’s fair to wonder if back problems led to an 82—his highest score in 100 competitive rounds at Augusta National.

Woods hit just eight of 18 greens and needed 34 putts. He finished with two double bogeys, eight bogeys and two birdies and shot a career-worst 42 on the front side. He was in enough distress that it appeared he might withdraw but ended up finishing the tournament in 60th place, last among those who made the cut.

He was asked afterward about his back but dismissed it.

Woods then played just six more rounds the rest of the year, missing the cut at the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the British Open.

Last week, Woods appeared at a clinic for his foundation and then had the surgery in Florida.

Described as a microdecompression of the lumbar spine for nerve impingement, it is considered similar or perhaps even the same as a microdiscectomy.

It is unclear if a bone fragment was impinging the nerve and for how long. After past procedures, Woods noted having immediate relief, but there’s still a recovery process that includes virtually no activity for a month. He needs time for the disc to heal and whether he can play at his Hero event in December or with his son, Charlie, in the PNC event later that month is very much in doubt.

So, too, is Woods’s ability to add events to be more competitive.