Tiger out for season after fourth back surgery

Tiger Woods will remain on the sidelines for at least another six months after announcing he has undergone yet more back surgery.

The operation, performed by Dr Richard Guyer of the Centre for Disc Replacement at the Texas Back Institute, is to alleviate ongoing pain in the 14-time major champion’s back and leg.

It’s the fourth time Woods has opted to go under the knife, the first coming before the 2014 Masters. He had two more operations in the autumn of 2015.

“The surgery went well, and I’m optimistic this will relieve my back spasms and pain,” Woods said on his website.

“When healed, I look forward to getting back to a normal life, playing with my kids, competing in professional golf and living without the pain I have been battling for so long.”

Woods managed only seven competitive rounds before pulling out following the opening round of the Dubai Desert Classic in February.

On Tuesday, he hit his first shots in public since then when revealing his first public course design at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri.

Now, he’s having to endure another extended spell on the sidelines.

Woods’ website said that because of the previous surgeries and ‘herniations’, his bottom lower-back disc had severely narrowed – causing sciatica and ‘severe back and leg pains’.

When medication and rehabilitation failed, a stay in hospital was his only resort.

His website said he will now “rest for several weeks, then begin therapy and treatment”.

Guyer added: “After he recovers from surgery, he will gradually begin his rehabilitation until he is completely healed. Once that’s accomplished, his workouts will be geared to allowing him to return to competitive golf.”

Woods’ website said patients typically returned to “full activity” in about six months.

That would rule him out of action for the rest of the 2017 PGA Tour season.

This latest operation, though, will only intensify doubts about whether the greatest player of the modern era will ever return to the game he dominated.