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LOS ANGELES. — Fifteen-time major golf champion Tiger Woods is going to miss time after he underwent the fifth back surgery of his career.

Woods announced the surgery via a statement on Twitter on Tuesday.

“Tiger has recently undergone a microdiscectomy procedure to remove a pressurized disc fragment that was pinching his nerve after experiencing discomfort following the PNC Championship (in December),” the statement read. “His doctors and their team have determined it to be successful and expect him to make a full recovery.”

The PNC Championship was a 36-hole event that Woods played with his 11-year-old son, Charlie.

Woods’ statement also said he would be missing the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines (South) in San Diego from 28-31 January, and The Genesis Invitational at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California, from 18-21 February.

Woods, however, expects to still serve as tournament host at The Genesis.

Woods could miss more than two months, but he is hopeful he can return for The Masters in April, according to Golf Digest.

The 45-year-old Woods last underwent a back procedure when he had spinal-fusion surgery in April 2017. He also had microdiscectomy surgery three times in 2014 and 2015. He played just one event from August 2015 through December 2017 because of his back issues.

A holder of 82 PGA Tour victories, Woods tied for ninth at the Farmers to start 2020, but struggled to contend the rest of the summer. He finished tied for 38th at The Masters in November. And If you’re completely surprised, you haven’t been paying attention.

Disappointed, that’s one thing. But the news that  Woods will miss at least a few months after a microdiscectomy procedure to his back is a shock only to two groups of people: Those who never fully appreciated the remarkable scope of his comeback in the first place, and those who have not listened to the man speak over the past three years.

It bears repeating that Woods’ spinal fusion in April 2017 was a true last-gasp attempt to save a career on life support. A medical Hail Mary, so to speak.

He’d been battling back problems for a half-decade, and the first three microdiscectomies he had beginning in 2015 — all similar to the one he’s recovering from now — provided only some relief, none of which was particularly long-lasting. The prospect of a fusion loomed ominously in the background, something to turn to when all else failed. And by April 2017, with Woods having played three competitive rounds in the previous 20 months, all else had failed. There was nowhere else to turn but the fusion.

“Imagine the discs in the back as a stack of jelly donuts,” says Dr. Ara Suppiah, a functional sports medicine expert and a Golf Digest contributor. “Sometimes, the jelly from one donut leaks, and what the microdiscectomy does is takes off a piece of the donut. Now, when the whole system becomes unstable, that’s when they fuse the spine.”

The list of players to make a full recovery from a spinal fusion — which, by Woods’ standards, would mean returning to his healthy form — was virtually non-existent. So uncertain was Woods about whether he would ever play again that five months after the procedure, at the Presidents Cup at Liberty National, he painted an ominous picture:

“I don’t know what my future holds for me.” More foreboding than his actual words was his tone: resigned, accepting. Even the fiercest competitor this sport has ever seen realised full well this was an opponent he’d never vanquish.

You know what comes next. Signs of life at the Hero World Challenge, three months later. Contending at a PGA Tour event three months after that. — Golf Digest