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Dustin Johnson undergoes knee surgery, expected to return later this fall
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Dustin Johnson became the latest former World No. 1 to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery, his management team announced on Thursday.
According to a statement released to PGATour.com, Johnson had the "routine" operation done in Fort Lauderdale to repair cartilage damage in his left knee. The 20-time PGA Tour winner is "expected to make a full recovery before returning to competition later this fall."
The news comes nine days after Tiger Woods' announcement that he had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee during the Tour Championship, his fifth procedure on that knee. Johnson previously had a similar procedure done on his right knee in 2011.
Johnson, 35, is coming off a season in which he won the WGC-Mexico Championship and finished runner-up in the first two majors. But since finishing two shots behind Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship, Johnson has struggled.
In eight starts since, his best finishes were a pair of T-20s, marking the his longest stretch without a top 10 on the PGA Tour since he was a rookie in 2008. And at the season-ending Tour Championship, Johnson finished tied for last place in the 30-man field.
The 2019-20 PGA Tour season begins Sept. 12 with A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier, the first of 10 consecutive weeks with an official event. That stretch is followed by Tiger Woods' Hero World Challenge (Dec. 4-7) and the Presidents Cup, which Johnson qualified for, the following week.
With his February victory in Mexico, Johnson became just the fifth player in the past 50 years to win 20 PGA Tour titles before turning 35. Johnson is currently No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking.