A leading spinal surgeon expects Tiger Woods to return to full fitness following the latest operation on his back.
The 39-year-old underwent microdiscectomy surgery earlier this week when neurosurgeon Dr Charles Rich removed a small disc fragment, which was pinching a nerve, from the former world No 1's back.
It was the second time Woods has undergone microdiscectomy surgery - the first time was in March 2014 - and he now faces a period of recovery which means he will not compete again this year.
But Dr Andrew Hecht, chief of spine surgery at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, says the stats are in Tiger's favour for a full recovery.
He said: "Return to play for an elite athlete is around 90 per cent, that they can return to their elite level of competition. The prognosis is very good."
Hecht, who works with American Football franchise New York Jets, also sits on the NFL brain and spine committee.
Discs sit in between the vertebrae that run from the base of the skull down to the pelvis, and act as jelly-like shock absorbers.
And Hecht added: "When it gets out of its normal location it can contact with a nerve. The jelly may come out of somewhere, such as a tear or a hole in the disc.
"A microdiscectomy is where you remove that herniated piece of jelly. But remember, there is still a hole there and that hole has to heal on its own, but it's forever a weak spot in the disc.
"The most common problem with anybody who has a microdiscectomy is reherniating the disc."
Hecht does not think that age should affect Woods, who turns 40 in December.
He added: "To me the most important factor is the kind of symptoms you have pre-operatively. When you have a herniated disc, very often you have pinched nerve, and pain that radiates down your leg.
"Those people that have pain in their leg, they do amazingly well. Those that mostly only have back pain, and not leg pain, they don't do as well.
"One part of the healing process is the surgery, getting the pressure off the nerve by removing that piece of disc material.
"The second part of this is the rehab program to strengthen the muscles around the spine, your core muscles, your trunk muscles and your hip muscles, to get yourself back into a shape where the muscles that support your spine are strong and ready to endure the mechanics of a golf swing.
"People should be optimistic that he can return to being himself."