Tiger Woods had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday to repair cartilage damange, his second operation in five years on the same knee. He is expected to miss at least a month while he recovers.

The surgery, announced on his Web site, came two days after Woods finished two shots behind Trevor Immelman in the Masters. He likely will miss The Players Championship, but should return in time to play the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

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

The surgery was performed in Park City, Utah, by Thomas Rosenberg, who also operated on Woods' left knee in December 2002. Woods also had surgery in 1994 on his left knee to remove a benign tumor.

Woods gave no indication his knee was bothering him the first three months of the season, when he won his first four tournaments to extend a winning streak that dated to September.

"Tiger has been experiencing pain in his knee since the middle of last year, and when he had it looked at by his doctors, arthoscopic surgery was recommended," said Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at IMG. "Tiger has played through the pain in the past, but knew it would be better for him to have the procedure done as early as possible."

Steinberg said the surgery repaired cartilage damage. The 2002 surgery drained fluid from around the anterior cruciate ligament and removed a benign cyst.

Woods won the Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship in consecutive weeks in August, the latter his 13th career major. After tying for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship to Phil Mickelson, he wound the final two events to capture the FedEx Cup, won his unofficial Target World Challenge in December, and won his first four events until tying for fifth at Doral last month.

He occasionally would press his foot against a cooler on the tee box and stretch his knee, but there no other signs he was hurting.

The recovery is expected to be four to six weeks, meaning Woods will not be able to defend his title May 1 in the Wachovia Championship. He likely will miss The Players Championship, one of three non-majors he has never missed since turning pro.

"Of course, we're disappointed when Tiger is unable to compete in a PGA Tour event," commissioner Tim Finchem said on the tour's Web site. "There is really never a good time for an athlete — especially one of Tiger's caliber — to take weeks off from competition during the season. But his health concerns have to come first."