Just as quickly as he was returning to form, legendary golfer Tiger Woods suffered another injury that will keep him out of The Masters.
The 15-time major champion announced late yesterday that he underwent surgery after rupturing his left Achilles tendon while ramping up training and practice at home.
The shocking announcment was made on X.
As I began to ramp up my own training and practice at home, I felt a sharp pain in my left Achilles, which was deemed to be ruptured.
This morning, Dr. Charlton Stucken of Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida performed a minimally-invasive Achilles tendon… pic.twitter.com/KAVZfcRxlE
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) March 11, 2025
Woods did offer a glimmer of hope with his latest setback, saying Dr. Charlton Stucken of the Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida, performed a “minimally invasive” Achilles tendon repair.
“The surgery went smoothly, and we expect a full recovery,” Stucken said in a statement.
As of today, Woods said he was back home in Jupiter, Florida, and plans to “focus on my recovery and rehab.”
A timeline for his return to competition wasn’t immediately known.
It’s a certainty that he will miss the 2025 Masters, which will be played April 10-13 at Augusta National Golf Club.
Woods won The Masters back in 2019 after coming back from an injury.
But golf analysts now believe that Woods’s career could finally be in jeopardy.
Today, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith discussed Woods’s latest injury setback and what he believes it realistically means for his future as a golfer.
“I mean no disrespect—to me, Tiger Woods is a recreational golfer at this point. We know how he’s the all-time great. We get that. But his health is so bad,” Smith said on his show ‘First Take.’
“He’s gone through so many physical tragedies that, it’s like, I keep telling people … I look at golf, and I look at Tiger Woods, and I don’t even think about his game. You know what I think about? … You walk 18 holes Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. He’s not making it. Literally, you don’t even think about his swing, ya’ll. You don’t think about his short game, his mid-game, you don’t think about him driving off the tee. All you think about is he can’t make it through four days walking before you even think about him swinging. Walking the 18-hole course is not something he can do anymore, and that has been the case for years.”
Stephen A. Smith: "I mean no disrespect. To me, Tiger Woods is a recreational golfer at this point… walking the 18-hole course is not something he can do anymore and that has been the case for years." pic.twitter.com/NTbPCqiKhl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 12, 2025
Woods hadn’t competed in a PGA Tour event this season following the death of his mother, Kultida, on Feb. 4.
He had entered the field for the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines outside San Diego but withdrew, saying he wasn’t ready to compete after her death.
Woods competed in a tour event when he missed the cut at The Open at Royal Troon Golf Course in Scotland in July.
Woods has competed in four TGL matches this season, including Jupiter Links’ 9-1 loss to Atlanta Drive GC in the regular-season finale March 4.
This week’s surgery is the latest in a slew of procedures Woods has undergone in the past few years.
In September, Woods underwent microdecompression surgery of the lumbar spine for nerve impingement in the lower back.
It was believed to be the sixth surgery on his lower back in the past 10 years.
In 2021, Woods suffered serious injuries to his right leg, foot and ankle in a car wreck near the border of Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes, California, about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Woods told reporters that surgeons nearly had to amputate his right leg because the injuries were so severe, and he underwent multiple surgeries to repair it.
Woods has competed on an injured Achilles before, and won.
At the 2010 Masters, Woods revealed that he tore his right Achilles tendon in 2008 and hurt it again several times in 2009 yet continued to play.
He won six times during the 2009 PGA Tour season.
There is no timetable for Woods’s return.