Tiger Woods chips out of the bunker at the eighth hole in Monday's playoff. (Chris Carlson/Associated Press)Tiger Woods has confirmed that he will miss the rest of the 2008 golf season.
Woods revealed Wednesday that he suffered a small stress fracture in his left leg two weeks before his playoff triumph Monday at the U.S. Open.
Woods underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove cartilage in his left knee in April, but he now needs reconstructive surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee.
"I know much was made of my knee throughout the last week, and it was important to me that I disclose my condition publicly at an appropriate time," Woods said in a statement on his website.
"I wanted to be very respectful of the USGA [U.S. Golf Association] and their incredibly hard work, and make sure the focus was on the U.S. Open.
"Now it is clear that the right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee."
In his first tournament since the April surgery, Woods came back to win the U.S. Open in a playoff in San Diego on Monday. He needed 91 holes to win his 14th career major, beating underdog Rocco Mediate by a stroke.
After the seesaw battle, he told broadcaster NBC he was going to take a "long rest" to let his knee heal.
"For an athlete as talented and competitive as Tiger Woods, taking the rest of the season off must have been an incredibly difficult, yet necessary decision, one that we understand and support completely," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "The fact that he needs additional surgery only makes his performance and victory at last week's U.S. Open all the more impressive."
Woods will miss golf's final two majors of the year. He won the PGA championship last season for the fourth time and has taken the British Open three times.
"Tiger really is amazing and the legend seems to grow every week," said Calgary resident Stephen Ames. "There are so many great players on the PGA Tour and I know we'll continue to see some great champions throughout the rest of the season."
"Obviously, with him gone, you're going to see fewer people coming out to the events, but I don't think it will hurt golf in general," said Ben Curtis, winner of the 2003 British Open. "It's only going to be a short period of time.
"Now if it were a five-year period, that would be a lot different. I think there were six or seven events he was going to play in for the rest of the year, and that gives us six or seven more chances to win."
Remarkably, Woods said he ruptured the ACL while out for a run near his Orlando home last July. He won seven consecutive tournaments after that date last year, and five of seven this year.
Woods said doctors have assured him the outlook for recovery from the injury is positive, and that a date for the surgery has not yet been set.
Lorne Rubenstein, golf reporter for the Globe and Mail, told CBC News the impact of Woods' injury on the PGA tour will be a large one.
"It will certainly be big in terms of the coverage the sport will get," he said. "It will be big in terms of the television coverage ... I know a lot of people, first of all, who don't even watch ... golf on TV unless Tiger's in it, so they'll lose that audience.
"And then they'll lose the gigantic audience that tunes in when you have something that's happened on the weekend when Tiger's in."
Rubenstein believes golf fans will adapt.
"People will get used to it," he said. "They'll start to talk about how the surgery is going, how the surgery went, how the rehab is going, when we can expect him back, that sort of thing.
"But it will be big."
With files from the Associated Press
