Justin Thomas will miss the beginning of the 2026 PGA Tour season while recovering from a back procedure he had performed on Thursday in New York.
Thomas, 32, disclosed on social media that he had a microdiscectomy to alleviate pain his lower back, a procedure that typically comes with a three-month recovery period.
“I’ve had some nagging hip pain for a handful of months and after some time off worsening symptoms, an MRI showed I had a disk problem that needed to be treated,” said Thomas, who wrote that the procedure was performed at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and that he has been released.
He can lean on his friend Tiger Woods for advice. The two have become close over the years and Woods has been through this numerous times. He had a microdiscectomy three times from 2014-15, another in 2020 and then a similar procedure in 2024 before announcing last month that he had disk replacement surgery. His return to competitive golf is also unclear.
“My next few weeks will be a lot of resting before the rehab process begins,” Thomas said. “I have a great team behind me who I fully trust to get me back to a better place than I was before.”
Thomas went on to say he was not putting a timetable or tournament goal on his return.
“I want to be very patient in letting my disk fully heal so it isn’t an issue again,” he said.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Justin Thomas Announces Back Surgery That Is Similar to Tiger Woods.
