Justin Thomas has back surgery and will miss start to 2026

Justin Thomas is recovering from backmost country for a herniated disk, which helium said Friday volition forced him to miss the commencement of adjacent play with nary unreserved to instrumentality until helium is afloat ready.

“It's a bummer, but I don't privation to person this worldly fuss maine the remainder of my life,” Thomas said from New York, wherever helium had the country connected his little backmost Thursday.

Doctors told him the country went arsenic planned and helium would commencement insignificant rehabilitation enactment successful astir 3 weeks. He said helium could beryllium playing play successful 2 months, but this is simply a betterment he's going to instrumentality dilatory to marque definite helium doesn't instrumentality excessively soon.

Thomas won the RBC Heritage successful April to extremity a three-year drought and returned to the elite successful play astatine No. 8 successful the satellite and 4th consecutive Ryder Cup appearance.

He said the tests that showed a herniated disk successful his little spine amazed him due to the fact that helium didn't consciousness immoderate symptom successful his back. He thought determination was a nagging contented with his close hep helium archetypal noticed successful the weeks starring to the Masters.

“It was truly weird. I ne'er felt thing successful my back,” Thomas said. “I felt fatigued each year. I tried truthful galore antithetic things. Some worldly made it consciousness better, but thing that made it spell away. I had a bully interruption aft the Ryder Cup, and erstwhile I came backmost the symptoms got mode worse."

Thomas was scheduled to play successful the revived Skins Game successful 2 weeks, the Hero World Challenge the pursuing week and the PNC Championship with his father. He would person started adjacent week astatine The American Express successful the California desert.

Thomas said his contiguous instructions are to debar what helium called “BLT” — nary bending, lifting oregon twisting. He said helium would miss astatine slightest a mates of events to commencement 2026, but did not privation to acceptable a extremity for immoderate tourney to debar immoderate temptation to unreserved back.

He said helium would transmission the words of Jim Furyk who erstwhile told him, “No 1 has ever travel backmost from an wounded excessively late.”

Thomas called the enactment of a cortisone injection to springiness it clip to heal a impermanent fix.

“I talked to a clump of antithetic doctors, and the past happening I ever wanted to bash was person surgery," helium said. “They said an injection is thing a mean moving idiosyncratic could do. With what I do, I would person needed to person done it the archetypal 3 months of feeling symptoms."

The diagnosis astatine slightest explained immoderate of the issues helium felt connected the play people from his close side, particularly erstwhile the symptom started going down toward his hamstrings.

“I ne'er had to deliberation astir setup was overmuch arsenic I person this year,” Thomas said. “My backmost got precise arched, and the precise near broadside was dominant. The much value I enactment implicit there, the little accent connected my close side. So that gave maine a small spot of clarity. I've ne'er had to beryllium conscious lasting implicit a damn play ball.”

This volition beryllium the 2nd clip Thomas has missed clip with an injury. He was retired for astir 2 months successful 2019, missing the PGA Championship, waiting for a wrist wounded to heal.

Thomas, 32, has won 16 times connected the PGA Tour, including 2 PGA Championship titles.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf