Tiger Woods had lumbar disc replacement surgery on Friday, announcing via social media that he had pain and a lack of mobility in the area where he had twice had microdiscectomy procedures in recent years.
Woods, who turns 50 in December and did not play any golf this year due to an Achilles injury suffered in March, has now had seven surgeries in that area of his back.
“After experiencing pain and lack of mobility in my back, I consulted with doctors and surgeons to have tests taken,” Woods said Saturday in a social media post. “The scans determined that I had a collapsed disk in the L4/5 (spine area), disk fragments and a compromised spinal canal. I opted to have my disk replaced yesterday, and I already know I made a good decision for my health and my back.”
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) October 11, 2025
The post said that the surgery was performed Dr. Sheeraz Qureshi at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
After having three microdiscectomy procedures in 2014-15, Woods elected to have a serious fusion surgery that was performed in April of 2017 that could have been career-ending.
That spinal fusion, performed by Dr. Richard Guyer in Texas, led to a six-month rehabilitation without swinging a golf club.
But Woods—who had missed nearly all of 2016 and 2017, including all of the major championships in those years—surprisingly returned in strong form in 2018, playing a full schedule, contending at two majors and then winning the Tour Championship for his 80th PGA Tour victory.
The following spring, Woods won the Masters, his 15th major title and fifth at Augusta National. Later in the year, he won the ZOZO Championship in Japan for his 82nd win, tying Sam Snead’s record.
But Woods has struggled since that time with various injuries, most seriously the February 2021 car crash that severely injured his lower right leg.
The fusion was done on the L5, which is a level below where the disc replacement occurred. After the spinal fusion, Woods had two more microdiscectomy procedures in the area above the fusion, one in December of 2020 and the other in September of 2024.
The latter procedure was expected to allow Woods to play this year until he had the Achilles injury that again knocked him out of the season's major championships.
This surgery all but certainly will keep Woods from playing in the Hero World Challenge, his foundation’s event, in the Bahamas in December as well as the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie. But the replacement should allow relief in that area of the spine, which means there will be a watch to see if Woods can return sometime in the spring.
More Golf on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tiger Woods Announces Another Back Surgery.
