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Tiger Woods to Skip 2011 U.S. Open

For the first time since he began playing the event in 1996, Tiger Woods will miss a U.S. Open. The announcement came out of Jacksonville via AP reporter Doug Ferguson that Woods will skip the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional due to his Achilles injury, and probably also due to symptoms in his left knee, which has endured four surgeries. Woods tweeted, “Not playing in US Open. Very disappointed. Short-term frustration for long-term gain.”

My personal guess is that Woods will not be back for the British Open at Royal St. George’s in the south of England as well, but there is still one more month for Woods to convalesce.

Bulletin Boards are abuzz with the news. One wise-cracking irreverent wag quipped that he wondered if his injury wasn’t anything a trip to a Canadian doctor couldn’t fix. After all Woods “won the U.S. Open with one broken leg” – meaning a hairline fracture and a knee getting many injections of who knows what and he’s not telling. Why would Woods play with a torn ligament one year, yet be sidelined by a sprained one three years later? I doubt he’ll ever tell.

Still, the tournament will be better off without the questions, distractions, and scowls, and golf will endure once he sails off into the distance on his new Yacht colorfully titled “Seclusion.”