Some consider Woods the greatest of all time, while others argue that Jack Nicklaus was better. Woods has won 15 major championships, and Nicklaus landed 18, but you could counter that Woods won his 15 in an era when there was greater depth.
What is undeniable, however, is that the two are so far ahead of the rest that it doesn’t really matter.
It’s not the only way in which Woods is remarkable, unfortunately, because unlike Nicklaus, who was relatively injury-free throughout his career, Woods had to fight back from the surgeon’s table time and time again.
To list his many experiences of going under the knife makes for gruesome reading, but it tells a tragic tale of a great golfer’s gradual unraveling – not through loss of talent, but through the relentless toll his body paid for greatness.
1994 – Removal of two cysts from his left knee
He was still a student at Stanford University when these benign cysts and scar tissue were removed.
2002 – Draining of fluid from his left ACL and more cysts
Not a big deal, but it kept him out at the start of the season.
2008 – Arthroscopic knee surgery and later full ACL reconstruction
He had ruptured his ACL in August the previous year and went under the knife after the Masters. He would, famously, win the US Open after this surgery with two stress fractures in his tibia.
2010 – Neck surgery to treat an inflamed facet joint
A bulging disc prompts a withdrawal from the Players Championship final round.
2011 – Sprained MCL and Achilles tendon strain
He’d had to pull out of the Players Championship and missed the US Open and the Open.
2012 – Achilles tendon surgery
It has forced him off the course during the WGC Cadillac Championship.
2014 – First back surgery, pinched nerve
He missed the Masters for the first time since 1994.
2015 – Microdiscectomy to take out a disc fragment in his back
His back had flared up again in the summer of 2014, and it did so again early in the 2015 season – back under the knife.
2016 – Spinal fusion surgery
On it goes. The back was beginning to creak.
2017 – Sciatica treatment
Back problems are often linked to Sciatica, and Tiger was no different.
2019 – Arthroscopic surgery, left knee
If it’s not his back … it’s his knee again.
2021 – Microdiscectomy on a disc fragment, then emergency surgery on leg fractures
More back work, and then the terrible car crash in which he was lucky to emerge with his life intact.
2023 – Subtalar fusion surgery, plantar fasciitis
The subtalar is effectively his ankle, which was battered in the car crash.
2024 – Back surgery, nerve compression
2025 – Achilles tendon ruptured
His left foot collapsed under the strain of practice and training.
