Woods to miss Memorial with focus on U.S. Open return

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tiger Woods will skip next week's Memorial tournament while he continues his recovery from a knee operation, the PGA Tour said on Friday.

The American world number one, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on April 15, informed Tour officials of his decision before the Friday deadline.

Woods, a three-times champion at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial, had been hoping to compete but his main focus is on the June 12-15 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in California.

He is highly unlikely to play in the June 5-8 St. Jude Championship which means he would return to action for the second major of the year after an eight-week break.

Two years ago, he had a nine-week layoff while coping with the illness and death of his father Earl before missing the cut in a major for the first time as a professional in the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

Woods, who has had two previous operations on his left knee, underwent his third surgery two days after finishing second at this year's Masters.

"I made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the surgery for after the Masters," he said last month. "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."

Later last month, he admitted he was becoming frustrated over the delay in his return to the PGA Tour.

"I'm a little stir crazy," the 32-year-old said in his April newsletter. "Although I've been through this before and understand the need for patience, I don't enjoy sitting around.

"I really don't have a timetable for returning to competition. I'm just going to do what they (the doctors) tell me to do."

(Editing by Ed Osmond)