What's Ahead For Tiger?

"Tiger is a smart guy," Bradley said. "The U.S. Open is at Torrey Pines, he's got a great chance of winning and he probably said, 'Screw it. I'm going to deal with everything after [the Open is over].' All you can do as a doctor is give him the information. It was his body, and he made a decision on what he was going to do. We have this discussion with NFL and NHL players all the time. It's usually determined by where they are in their contract, whether they're at the end of their career, whether a Super Bowl or a Stanley Cup is coming up. You let them make the decision."

But Bradley, a golf fan as well as an orthopedic surgeon, doesn't think anyone should push the panic button. "This is not career threatening," he said.

Another question was why Woods didn't have the ACL reconstructed last year after he first tore it, or in April, when he had the cartilage work done. The answer in both cases, say sources, was that Woods was trying to postpone what he knew would be a long layoff from competition.

At least one source in the Woods camp thinks Woods' knee problems are a byproduct of more than jogging -- his love of skydiving and extreme training methods, some adopted by U.S. Navy Seals. After the jogging accident last summer, Woods was forced to limit his practice time and warm-up routines -- not to mention playing in pain that he did not reveal -- yet still won nine of 12 tournaments starting at the 2007 Bridgestone Invitational. He did this, as Haney said last week, "playing on one and a half legs."

"It was," admitted Woods' former coach, Butch Harmon, "an incredible feat. Was it smart? Only time will tell."

Roughly 100,000 people have reconstructive ACL surgery every year and for athletes in other sports it isn't as career-threatening as it once was. English soccer player Michael Owen has returned to star for Newcastle United, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer returned to make the NFL Pro Bowl and Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves has played almost his entire career after having ACL surgery in 1994. But the knee can be reinjured if an athlete returns to competition too soon. NFL wide receiver Jerry Rice, for example, had ACL surgery in 1997 and tried to return to action 14 weeks later. He scored a touchdown against the Denver Broncos, but broke his left kneecap in the process.

As Kenny Perry said from the Travelers Championship, "I had my right knee scoped, and it took me two full years to recover. Woods needs to stay out as long as he needs to stay out."

Brad Faxon is a case in point, having had his second ACL surgery in a three-year period just before Christmas. Faxon had targeted last week's Travelers, where he won in 2005, for his comeback, but decided to wait after rounds of 77-79 in U.S. Open sectional qualifying, "I'm not going to play Hartford if I'm shooting scores like this," he said at the time.

In fact, knee injuries have become something of an epidemic on the PGA Tour. Besides Perry and Faxon, Brett Quigley, Peter Jacobsen, Stuart Appleby and Fred Funk have had various forms of knee repair since last September. While Woods' situation is far from the total knee replacement the 54-year-old Jacobsen went through, he also is faced with the potential of more prolonged interruptions -- in what are supposed to be his prime years. "He has got a weak link," said one noted swing instructor. "The problem is, it could happen again."

Opinions vary on whether those pain levels will subside entirely after the surgery. Dr. Neal ElAttrache, director of sports medicine for the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic -- who, like Bradley, is not treating Woods and has not reviewed his medical records -- told the Los Angeles Times Woods might eventually need another form of knee surgery. "ACLs can be fixed and stabilized, but the cartilage surface of the joint, that's unforgiving," ElAttrache said. "It can sometimes be improved by microfracture surgery, but that part of his knee is always going to take a beating. This will be something he [will deal] with the rest of his career."