American golfer Tiger Woods will miss at least four weeks of the PGA Tour after undergoing surgery on his left knee on Tuesday.

"I made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the surgery for after the Masters," said Woods, who is fresh off a second-place finish at the 2008 Masters and underwent arthroscopic surgery on left knee in Park City, Utah of the United States.

"The upside is that I have been through this process before and know how to handle it. I look forward to working through the rehabilitation process and getting back to action as quickly as I can," he said.

It's the third time Woods has had surgery on the knee. The first surgery was 14 years ago when he had a benign tumour and the second in December, 2002 where doctors performed the first arthroscopic surgery.

According to his doctors, the problem on Woods' left knee could be repaired and the recovery will take four to six weeks.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2008)