Justin Thomas undergoes surgery to relieve back and hip pain; misses ’26 start
Two-time major champion Justin Thomas announced Friday that he will miss the start of the 2026 PGA Tour season after undergoing back surgery.
“Life update – I have been experiencing pain in my hip for several months,” Thomas said in a statement posted on social media. “After some time off, symptoms worsened and an MRI showed I had a disc problem that required treatment.”
Thomas said he had a successful microdiscectomy at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery on Thursday and was released from the hospital.
The 32-year-old, ranked No. 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking, won the RBC Heritage last season (his 18th career Tour victory) and has eight top-10s in 2025.
Thomas plans to compete in the upcoming Hero World Challenge from December 4-7, as well as participating in the skin game’s relaunch the Friday after Thanksgiving.
“I’m going to have a lot of rest over the next few weeks before the rehab process begins,” Thomas said. “I have a great team behind me and I have full faith in them to get me back to a place better than before!”
Although Thomas did not provide a target date for a return to competitive golf, he acknowledged that he will miss early 2026.
Thomas’ friend Tiger Woods has had multiple microdiscectomies, a procedure with a typical recovery time of three months.
Woods underwent three microdiscectomies from 2014-15, another in 2020, and then a similar procedure in 2024. Last month, Woods announced he had disc replacement surgery.
Thomas said: “I hope to be very smart and patient and allow my disc to heal completely so that I don’t have any more problems. I’m lucky that the game of golf allows us to perform at a high level for a long time and that’s what I plan to do – this surgery will allow me to be injury-free in the future.”
