Woods to miss season opener on PGA Tour
IN: News | US PGA | Mercedes Championships (2003) | Preview | 17 Dec 2002
Tournament organisers for the PGA season-opening Mercedes Championships on the 9th January have confirmed that world number one, Tiger Woods, will not be playing the event in Hawaii after undergoing routine knee surgery last week.
Championship director Gary Planos announced that Woods' agent Mark Steinberg had spoken with him on weekend and that Woods would not be 100% fit in time for the tournament.
The hour-long procedure, which took place last Thursday, was to remove fluid from inside and outside a knee ligament. Thomas Rosenberg, Woods' surgeon, said Woods should recover by early February in time, perhaps, for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am (6th February).
The Mercedes Championships is open to all players who win tournaments on the US PGA Tour throughout the year. Woods well and truly qualified following another superb year with five wins on the PGA Tour, including The Masters and the US Open.
Woods won the Mercedes Championships title in 2000.
