When Tiger Woods announced Tuesday that he would skip next week’s United States Open at Congressional Country Club because of a “mild” sprain to his medial collateral ligament and a “mild” strain of his Achilles’ tendon, the news came as no surprise and raised more questions than it answered about the extent of the damage to his left leg.
Woods, 35, has been unable to work on his game since withdrawing from the Players Championship last month after shooting 42 for nine holes. Since injuring the leg while hitting a shot at the Masters eight weeks ago, Woods has been rehabilitating the knee and the tendon — to no avail. The announcement on his Web site said the injuries had not sufficiently improved.
“I am extremely disappointed that I won’t be playing in the U.S. Open,” Woods said in the statement. “But it’s time for me to listen to my doctors and focus on the future. I was hopeful that I could play, but if I did, I risk further damage to my left leg.”
Woods’s situation is complicated by his history of injuries to the left knee and by the four operations he has had, most recently a major reconstructive surgery to his anterior cruciate ligament in June 2008. These factors could be complicating his ability to come back from the injury as quickly as he had hoped.
The same is true of what he has called a mild strain to his Achilles’ tendon, which was ruptured in 2008.
Woods will be replaced by the first alternate Michael Whitehead, a 23-year-old amateur from Sugar Land, Tex. Whitehead earned his spot at sectional qualifying Monday at the Dallas Athletic Club.
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