A career that expands 82 victories on just the PGA Tour also has many ailing surgeries behind it. Tiger Woods’s life has been an inspiration for many, but it has not been easy. In nearly three decades, the 15x major winner has undergone many surgeries, only to be able to play professionally for as long as he can. Whether it be his knee, ankle, or back, he has been under the knife for all. Focusing on his back, there have been six times when the 15-year-old had to undergo procedures on his back.

2014

Tiger Woods’s lower back spasm started in March of the 2014 season at the Honda Classic. Woods withdrew from the event as his then-spokesperson Glenn Greenspan revealed that he experienced some discomfort while warming up. After a month, the 15-time major winner missed the Masters for the first time in his life and shared that he had gone through his first back surgery to relieve the pain from a pinched nerve.

But even after this surgery, Woods still had pain in his back. In the fall of 2014, he once again withdrew from the WGC Bridgestone Invitational as he was playing the ninth hole in the final round. He aggravated his back because of an awkward lie at the second hole, and his back didn’t support that swing. Although he was skeptical of playing at the 2014 PGA Championship, he eventually did but missed the cut. It was his last official event of the season.

2015

Nearly three months after his surgery in 2014, Woods teed up at the WM Phoenix Open but missed the cut. He then played in the Farmers Insurance Open, but after playing 11 holes, he withdrew again. It was due to another back injury because he couldn’t activate his glutes, and that went into his lower back, as NBC reported. Even after that, the 48-year-old played in eight more tournaments that season.

Woods finished T10 at the Wyndham Championship, after which, on September 18th, he revealed that two days before he played the event, he had undergone a microdiscectomy procedure to ail a pinching nerve, which was punctured by a disc fragment. He then said that it was disappointing, but “I’m a fighter.” After a month, he had to go through a follow-up procedure in Park City, Utah, and shared that the surgery had to be done.

There were no other procedures reported to be done on his back in 2016, but he still missed the Masters and posted on his website, saying, “I’ve been hitting balls and training daily, but I’m not physically ready. I’ve said all along that this time I need to be cautious and do what’s best for my long-term health and career.”

2017

After missing the entire 2015-16 season, Woods started his 2017 season at the Farmers Insurance Open but missed making it to the weekend. Then, he was at the DP World Tour’s event, the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, in February. But after the opening round of 77, he withdrew because of back spasms. He did not play any other event after this. Until his website was lit up with another notification in April about surgery performed on his back to aid the pain in his leg and back.

The damaged disc was removed, and the levels of the space between the collapsed discs were made normal by Dr. Richard Guyer of the Center for Disc Replacement at the Texas Back Institute. It relieved the pressure felt on his nerve, which was causing the back spasms again and again. That year as well, Woods missed all the major championships.

2021

This back operation was before the catastrophic accident of February, which left his right leg severely damaged. On January 19, 2021, the 15-time major shared on X that he was getting a fifth microdiscectomy on his back. Another pressured disc fragment was removed for the pinched nerve. He was supposed to be back after missing just a month or two of the season, but surprisingly, Woods was not back on the PGA Tour for the entire season.

The next time he teed it up was at the PNC Championship in December, where he and Charlie Woods finished second, two strokes behind Team Daly. In the next two years, Woods didn’t undergo any surgeries for the back, although he played five events in total.

2024

The 2024 season was the comeback era for Woods, as he was playing the Genesis Invitational after three years and expressed to play an event every month, following more of a regular schedule, which he hasn’t been able to do in the past. However, he couldn’t follow through with the plan after withdrawing from Riviera GC because he was down with Influenza. He finished 60th at the Masters while missing the cut at the other three majors.

After finishing his 2024 season at the Open Championship, the 48-year-old announced on X that he underwent microdecompression surgery of the lumbar spine to aid in his nerve impingement. He revealed undergoing rehab and getting back to normal life activities, including golf.

This accounts for the latest and the sixth surgery Woods has undergone in the past two decades. He didn’t reveal when he will be back playing again, but it can be assumed that after more than two months of break, he may be playing in the Hero World Challenge and the PNC Championship in December. But nothing is certain, as Woods may decide to tee up next year whenever he wishes. Hopefully, it may be the last surgery that the 82-time PGA Tour winner may require before he gets better in his game.