Tiger Woods holds up the championship trophy after winning the US Open against Rocco Mediate, after a sudden death hole following an 18-hole play-off round at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego on Monday. - AP

SAN DIEGO (AP):

TIGER WOODS will miss the rest of the golf season because of surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left knee, an injury he has been dealing with since July despite winning nine of 12 tournaments.

Woods also said he suffered a double stress fracture of his left tibia while preparing to return to the tour last month, which forced him to miss the Memorial and was the source of his pain at Torrey Pines Golf Course when he won the US Open this past weekend.

"Now, it is clear that the right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee," Woods said in a statement on his website.

He had arthroscopic surgery on April 15 to clean out cartilage in his left knee, bypassing surgery on his knee ligament with hopes it could get him through the 2008 season.

Pronounced limp

Woods was last seen in public late on Monday afternoon walking with a pronounced limp across Torrey Pines towards the parking lot.

"Although I will miss the rest of the 2008 season, I'm thrilled with the fact that last week was such a special tournament," Woods said.

He played only seven tournaments this year and won five of them.