Steven Bowditch to undergo spinal fusion surgery

Two-time PGA TOUR winner Steven Bowditch will undergo spinal fusion surgery similar to that undertaken by Tiger Woods after doctors finally uncovered the source of two years of back pain the Australian had been struggling with.

Bowditch – who won the 2014 Valero Texas Open and 2015 AT&T Byron Nelson – had tried to battle through the mystery pain for two years.

The result was missing 25 of 27 cuts in 2016-17 and then missing the weekend in all eight tournaments he played in 2017-18.

Multiple MRIs had failed to pick up any problems until Bowditch was recently recommended to undergo a moving X-ray and the results picked up two stress fractures and spinal slippage.

“I have been diagnosed with Pars Defect and Spondylolysis. After meeting with several surgeons, who all arrived at the same conclusion, treatment is a surgical fusion of the L5 and S1, which I will undergo next month,” Bowditch said in a statement on social media.

“I spent much of the last two years dealing with lower back pain, leg numbness, sciatic pain, loss of control of my right side and tingling in my toes.

“I had exhausted everything I could think of to diagnose the source of my pain … several MRIs, multiple injections, chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy and massage. It would appear to calm down and then flair right back up as soon as I resumed golf activity.”

With the pain affecting his day-to-day life with his wife and young daughter, the 35-year-old is just grateful to have found the cause.

“I haven’t slept in my own bed for eight months. I need to sleep on a couch with my legs in the air to keep my back straight,” he told PGATOUR.COM.

“It is just such a relief to know what’s going on and hopefully this will ensure a pain-free future and a return to golf.”

While no timetable for a competitive return is set, Bowditch is hopeful he can be fit by late 2019.