Goosen offers apology for slight on Woods

Published on Thursday 26 June 2008 00:06

RETIEF Goosen plans to contact Tiger Woods, who had the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee reconstructed during an operation on Tuesday, to offer his apologies for comments made last week which insinuated the world No 1 had exaggerated the extent of his injury when winning the US Open.

“Talk about putting my foot in my mouth,” confessed the South African yesterday. “Actually my comments after Tiger won the US Open were intended to be tongue in cheek, and certainly not the way they appeared in print. But they did, and I wholeheartedly apologise for that and intend to contact Tiger to explain this to him.”

In a statement made on his website, Goosen went on: “To be honest, the fact that Tiger won the US Open while suffering that sort of injury is incredible. Clearly this Goose was no match for a one-legged Tiger. I wish Tiger a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming him back on Tour as soon as possible.

“I am a huge admirer of Tiger and for what he has achieved in golf. We are all lucky to have the privilege to be playing in the same era as one of, if not the, best player of all time.”

Woods’ operation, which was performed by Dr Thomas Rosenberg and Dr Vernon Cooley, took place at Park City in Utah. The same surgeons also undertook arthroscopic work on Woods’ knee in April after the Masters.

“We were confident going in to this surgery and I am pleased with the results,” reported Dr Rosenberg. “There were no surprises during the procedure, and as we have said, with the proper rehabilitation and training, it is highly unlikely that Mr Woods will have any long-term effects as it relates to his career.”

“It was important to me to have the surgery as soon as possible so that I could begin the rehabilitation process,” said Woods.