What now after Tiger's knee injury?

It forced him to skip the Memorial and caused pain that reduced his practice sessions to a few swings. Doctors recommended he forget Torrey Pines and get on crutches for three weeks, followed by three more weeks of rest. Instead, Woods determined that his knee was about as hurt as it could get in the short term. And, because he was absolutely determined to play the Open at a course where he had already won six times as a professional, he decided he could handle the pain.

Quite a saga, but here's the upshot: The 12 years of soreness and surgeries (see accompanying chronology below) didn't stop Woods from compiling a record and rate of victory that surpasses all before him. Without a functional ACL from August of last year to June of this year, Woods played in 13 events, winning 10, finishing second twice and fifth once. And with the shooting pain from stress fractures that worsened with every round, Woods walked 91 holes and won the Open.

In that context, the brutal ACL rehab seems well within Woods' comfort zone. As orthopedic surgeries go, the procedure has become so common as to be considered relatively low-risk. The specialist who has performed three surgeries on Woods' knee, Dr. Thomas Rosenberg, says that "it is highly unlikely that Mr. Woods will have any long-term effects as it relates to his career."

Woods will need patience and prudence, making sure that the grafted tendon from his right thigh that now serves as his left ACL is allowed to make a full and healthy connection. After that, he'll need discipline and determination to rebuild his muscles and regain full motion. With so much riding on the outcome, it would be a huge surprise if Woods indulged his risk-taking bent and in any way defied doctors. "I can assure everyone that I'll be as dedicated to rehabilitating my knee as I am in all other aspects of my career," he says.

There is no rush to come back. More than ever, Woods' career is all about the majors. Anything that gets him whole and ready by next year's Masters in April will be fine.

Though ACL injuries can be problematic for athletes who are required to make high-speed cuts and deal with contact, Woods is a golfer. For all the extreme forces that he supposedly puts on his left knee when swinging the club 125 miles per hour, orthopedic doctors say that ACL tears as a direct result of the golf swing are extremely rare. Both Brad Faxon and Ernie Els, to name two professionals who recently underwent ACL reconstruction, were injured in activities outside of golf.

2008 U.S. Open: Woods mixed birdies with pain at Torrey (here at No. 1 on Friday).
Photo: J.D. Cuban

But veteran long-drive champion Art Sellinger says that the lead knee of the hardest swinging golfers frequently give out, particularly because they commonly hyperextend the joint through impact in the search for maximum yardage -- a move Woods has been trying to lose in his swing since his 2002 operation. "Mostly it's meniscus and cartilage tears," says Sellinger, 43, who has had two surgeries on his left knee. "But I've never seen or heard of a long driver tearing up his ACL making a swing."

Still, many reasonably wonder if a post-surgery Woods will be physically compromised, causing him to lose some of the dominating length and power that is his biggest physical advantage over the competition. But his swing coach, Hank Haney, though sad that the knee problem became untenable at precisely the time Woods had incorporated swing improvements to the point that he was playing his greatest golf, is optimistic and eager for the future.

"I don't see how having a repaired and healthy leg again won't make Tiger better," says Haney. "All this last year with the ACL tear, his strength was down, his speed was down, he couldn't practice like he wanted to, couldn't exercise like he wanted to, was in pain, on medication and frustrated. Once he gets a strong stable leg again, it's just logical that he's going to get better. I don't care if he won 10 out of 13, that's not the measure of how good Tiger can be. Anybody who doesn't think he's going to be better than ever doesn't know Tiger."

Contrary to those who think that Woods will have to swing less forcefully and otherwise change his action to protect his knee, Haney says that the surgery will allow Woods to more consistently execute the same swing he has been trying to master.