Tiger Woods has knee operation

Tiger Woods has a successful operation yesterday to repair torn ligaments in his knee.

Doctors said the operation was a success, and long-term they expect the world number one to make a full recovery.

“We were confident going into this surgery, and I am pleased with the results,” Dr. Thomas D Rosenberg said in a statement released by IMG, Woods’s management company.

“There were no surprises during the procedure, and as we have said, with the proper rehabilitation and training, it is highly unlikely that Mr Woods will have any long-term effects as it relates to his career.”

The surgery, which was performed by Rosenberg and Dr. Vernon J. Cooley in Park City, Utah, came eight days after Woods defeated Rocco Mediate in a playoff to win the US Open at Torrey Pines. Two days later, Woods announced that he would not play for the rest of the season.

This is Woods’s second knee operation in three months, coming after arthroscopic surgery in mid-April to remove loose cartilage, and is the fourth time surgery has been performed on the same knee. In 1994 and 2002, surgeons removed a benign cyst and a benign tumor.

Woods said last week that the original ACL tear occurred while he was jogging near his home in Orlando last July after the Open. He decided then he would try to make it through the end of the 2008 season without surgery, but pain in his knee caused by floating cartilage led to the April 15 operation.

He did not announce a timetable for rehabilitation, but said last week that he expects to return at full speed by the beginning of the 2009 season.