Tiger Woods has ankle surgery; ‘no timetable on this,’ agent says

Tiger Woods underwent surgery on Wednesday to address post-traumatic arthritis in his right ankle that was caused by injuries suffered in a February 2021 car wreck.

According to a statement posted to the 15-time major champion’s Twitter account, Dr. Martin O’Malley at HSS Sports Medicine Institute in New York performed the subtalar fusion procedure to address arthritis caused by a previous talus fracture and “determined the surgery to be successful.”

“He’s resting now and will start the recovery process,” Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at Excel Sports, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The surgery took place in New York, and Steinberg said Woods has returned to his home near Jupiter, Florida, to begin rehabilitating.

As for when Woods could return to playing golf, Steinberg said there was “no timetable on this.”

“The first goal is to recover and lead a much more enjoyable day-to-day life,” Steinberg said.

The subtalar joint — often referred to as the hindfoot — is the articulation between the talus (main bone of the ankle) and the calcaneus (heel bone). It sits below the ankle joint and is primarily responsible for side-to-side motion. Because of that, pain at the subtalar joint will most often affect an athlete on uneven ground. In golf, for example, the more hills and unevenness in the course, the more problematic it can be.

A fusion is done specifically for the purpose of pain relief. Screws are placed across the joint for compression and stability, and the goal is for the two bones — in this case the talus and the calcaneus — to grow together as one so that there is no longer a “joint” and there is zero motion. What the athlete loses in motion, he gains in pain relief.

When joint pain is significant, it begins to interfere with normal motion as the athlete tries to avoid moving into the positions that exacerbate severe discomfort, often referred to as fear avoidance behavior. After a fusion, there might be some mobility…