Tiger Woods could be back within

12 weeks of knee surgery

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Tiger Woods might not be out for the rest of the golf season. In fact, he could be back in action within 12 weeks of undergoing surgery to repair his damaged knee ligament.
That is the view of top knee specialist Louw van Niekerk, who has performed similar operations on Barclays Premier League footballers.
Mr van Niekerk, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, would normally recommend a six-month period of rehabilitation for a footballer after a knee reconstruction but said: "A golfer could get back into training 12 weeks post-surgery."
"If we are doing this surgery on a Premier League footballer, we allow for at least six months of rehabilitation," Mr van Niekerk told PA Sport.
"The surgery is important - it has to be done very accurately and meticulously - but the rehabilitation is even more important.
"If the cruciate ligament is the knee's onboard computer, the physiotherapy and rehabilitation re-program the computer, and it takes time to do that.
"That's what can take up to six months for someone involved in top-class sport and the demands that places on the knee.
"In golf, we can sometimes achieve those objectives more quickly. In some cases, some patients would return to their short game - chipping, putting and maybe playing approach shots - three months post-surgery."