Tiger Woods has knee surgery, could be out a month

Tiger Woods had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday to repair cartilage damage, his second operation in five years on the same knee. The top-ranked golfer in the world is expected to miss at least a month while he recovers.

The surgery, announced on his Web site, came two days after Woods finished three shots behind Trevor Immelman in the Masters in Augusta, Ga. Woods most likely will miss The Players Championship, but should return in time to play the U.S. Open, which starts June 12 at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

"I made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the surgery for after the Masters," Woods said. "The upside is that I have been through this process before and know how to handle it. I look forward to working through the rehabilitation process and getting back to action as quickly as I can."

The surgery was performed in Park City, Utah, by Thomas Rosenberg, who also operated on Woods' left knee in December 2002. Woods also had surgery in 1994 on his left knee to remove a benign tumor.

Swing coach Hank Haney told The Associated Press he knew Woods' knee was bothering him, but was not aware of the surgery until Woods called him.

"He's been having a lot of trouble," Haney said. "He doesn't talk about stuff like that. He doesn't want to use excuses, you know? I don't think it affected his play. It affected his practice a little bit.

"He hit 14 greens in regulation on Sunday. Hard to say it was the knee."

The recovery is expected to be from four to six weeks.

Woods, 32, gave no indication his knee was bothering him the first three months of the season, when he won his first four tournaments to extend a winning streak that dated to September.

"Tiger has been experiencing pain in his knee since the middle of last year, and when he had it looked at by his doctors, arthroscopic surgery was recommended," said Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at IMG. "Tiger has played through the pain in the past, but knew it would be better for him to have the procedure done as early as possible."

Steinberg said the surgery repaired cartilage damage. The 2002 surgery drained fluid from around the anterior-cruciate ligament and removed a benign cyst.

Woods won the Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship in consecutive weeks in August, the latter his 13th career major title.

During the final two events of the 2007 PGA Tour season — the BMW Championship in Lemont, Ill., and the Tour Championship in Atlanta — Woods would press his foot against a cooler on the tee box and stretch his knee.

Woods also stumbled behind the eighth green during the final round of the PGA Championship, shortly after he chipped in for a birdie and was backing up to throw a fist pump.

Note

• Two-time major champion John Daly, 41, recently had surgery to repair a torn muscle in his stomach, an injury that dates to March 2007.