Tiger Woods faces another injury and another lost year. Has golf seen the last of him?

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Golf without Tiger Woods was inevitable simply because of age.

He turns 50 at the end of this year and once leaned on the adage that “Father Time remains undefeated.” But for Woods, it has been the mother lode of injuries that is keeping him from going out on his own terms.

The latest was revealed in a social media post saying he had ruptured his left Achilles tendon and had surgery Tuesday — the minimally invasive variety, but one that keeps him out of the Masters next month and likely everything else the rest of the year.

“It sucks,” Rory McIlroy said Wednesday at The Players Championship. “He doesn't have much luck when it comes to injuries and his body. Hoping he's in good spirits and hoping he's OK. We obviously won't see him play golf this year, and hopefully we see him maybe play in 2026.”

Everything is “maybe” with Woods, the player who made golf cool to watch, who caused TV ratings to spike and prize money to soar, who delivered a level of dominance measured not only by his 15 majors and 82 titles on the PGA Tour but the fact that he had no lasting rival — until the injuries and surgeries began to accumulate.

His mother, Kultida, died last month and Woods withdrew from the Genesis Invitational as he coped with the loss. He chose not to be at The Players Championship, the final year of his exemption from winning the 2019 Masters.

“As I began to ramp up my own training and practice at home, I felt a sharp pain in my left Achilles, which was deemed to be ruptured,” he said in the post.

Another lost year for a player running out of time. The list of injuries is staggering.

The left knee. The lower back. Two stress fractures in his left tibia while winning the 2008 U.S. Open. An injury to his right Achilles tendon while running. An injury to his left Achilles tendon from hitting a shot off an awkward lie at the Masters.

Six back surgeries, the most significant to fuse his lower back in 2017. A car crash on a coastal road outside Los Angeles that so badly damaged his right leg and ankle that he said doctors contemplated amputation. Plantar fasciitis. A strained oblique. Surgery to fuse his right ankle.

He kept coming back, and he remained a must-see attraction even though his appearance were largely limited to the majors. He has played eight majors since the 2021 car crash and only twice finished all 72 holes — both at the Masters. He was never in hunt at either one.

There was a time when Woods was on pace to break the gold standard in golf — 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus — until that looked more unlikely with each injury.

“If he'd have been healthy, I think he would have got it,” Nicklaus said in an interview two weeks ago with Golf Channel. “But he didn't remain healthy. We all have injuries, we all have different things that change things. Tiger had his problems. I feel bad for him.”

Nicklaus recalled telling Woods: “Nobody wants their records to be broken. But I don't want it not to be broken because you don't have the ability to do so. I feel bad for him on that.”

Woods won his last major at the 2019 Masters, an astonishing victory considering it was only two years earlier that he struggled to walk up the stairs to the Masters Club dinner. And then he won later in the year in Japan for his record-tying 82nd title on the PGA Tour.

That was his last win. He hasn't come close since.

What keeps him going? What is there left to prove? That's a question all golfers face, whether it's age or injury. Few other sports offer such longevity.

McIlroy turns 36 in May — this is his 18th year as a pro. He knows the day is coming, and he has mapped out an exit strategy.

“Whenever I feel like the time is right, I’ll have no problem moving aside and letting the next generation do their thing,” McIlroy said. "I’d also like to walk away with a little bit left in the tank. I don’t want to be out there embarrassing myself. I’d like to walk away maybe a little before I should, put it that way.

“I think if you can come to terms with that and walk away on your own terms, then that’s a good thing.”

Nicklaus never wanted to be a ceremonial golfer. He played in all the majors for 12 years after winning his last one at the 1986 Masters.

Has golf seen the last of Woods? He is exempt for life at the Masters and PGA Championship. He can play the British Open for 10 more years. He can walk away on his own terms, but his health will have a big say in that.

McIlroy was asked if he could ever see Woods being competitive again. That's what so many fans want to see — hope to see — in the absence of any evidence the last five years.

“He'll try — I know he'll try,” McIlroy said. “But that’s a question for him, not for me. I obviously don’t know what’s in his head. But judging by prior behavior, he’ll definitely try.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

FILE - Tiger Woods flips his club after his shot to the 10th green during the final round of The Players Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

FILE - Tiger Woods walks to the first green during a practice for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - Tiger Woods walks on the first hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday, April 6, 2023, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FILE - Tiger Woods walks to the green on the fifth hole during final round at the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - Workers watch as a crane is used to lift a vehicle following a rollover accident involving golfer Tiger Woods, Feb. 23, 2021, in the Rancho Palos Verdes section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, file)

FILE - In this April 14, 2019, file photo, Tiger Woods reacts as he wins the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FILE - Tiger Woods walks on the 18th hole during the weather delayed second round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2023, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, file)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticized the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations.

Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

In his letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said he was “willing to work” to address the concerns expressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., about the safety of vaccinations. But he concluded that wasn't possible.

“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” he wrote.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.

Marks was offered the choice of resigning or being fired by Kennedy, according to a former FDA official familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn’t have permission to discuss the matter publicly.

Kennedy has a long history of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, although during his Senate confirmation hearings he seemed to say he would not undermine vaccines. He promised the chair of the Senate health committee that he would not change existing vaccine recommendations.

Since becoming commissioner, Kennedy has vowed to scrutinize the safety of childhood vaccinations, despite decades of evidence they are safe and have saved millions of lives.

Marks oversaw the agency’s rapid review and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments during the pandemic.

Marks is credited with coining the name and concept for “Operation Warp Speed,” the effort under President Donald Trump to rapidly manufacture vaccines while they were still being tested for safety and efficacy. The initiative cut years off the normal development process.

Despite the project’s success, Trump repeatedly lashed out at the FDA for not approving the first COVID shots even sooner. Trump told confidants after his 2020 loss that he would have been re-elected if the vaccine had been available before Election Day.

Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, criticized what he called the “firing” of Marks.

“RFK Jr.’s firing of Peter Marks because he wouldn’t bend a knee to his misinformation campaign now allows the fox to guard the hen house," Offit said. “It’s a sad day for America’s children.”

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said the issues raised in Marks' resignation letter “should be frightening to anyone committed to the importance of evidence to guide policies and patient decisions.”

“I hope this will intensify the communication across academia, industry and government to bolster the importance of science and evidence,” he wrote.

The resignation follows news Friday that HHS plans to lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies, including ones that oversee billions of dollars in funds for addiction services and community health centers across the country.

In a post on social media Thursday, Kennedy criticized the department he oversees as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy." He also faulted the department’s 82,000 workers for a decline in Americans’ health.

The resignation is the latest blow to the beleaguered health agency, which has been rocked for weeks by layoffs, retirements and a chaotic return-to-office process that left many staffers without permanent offices, desks or other supplies. Last month, Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods, resigned, citing “the indiscriminate firing” of nearly 90 staffers in his division, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by the AP.

Marks, who could not be reached for comment, also raised concerns in his letter about “efforts currently being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination are concerning” as well as the “unprecedented assault on scientific truth that has adversely impacted public health in our nation.”

He went on to detail the historic benefits of vaccinations dating back to George Washington and pointed to the ongoing measles outbreak as proof of what can happen when doubts about science take hold.

“The ongoing multistate measles outbreak that is particularly severe in Texas reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined,” he wrote.

The measles outbreak, which could go on for months, has now spread to Kansas and Ohio after sickening more than 370 in Texas and New Mexico.

If it hits other unvaccinated communities across the U.S., as may now be the case in Kansas, the outbreak could endure for a year and threaten the nation’s status as having eliminated the local spread of the vaccine-preventable disease, public health experts said.

Casey reported from Boston. Perrone reported from Washington, D.C.

FILE - Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the Food and Drug Administration testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing to examine an update from Federal officials on efforts to combat COVID-19, Tuesday, May 11, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP, File)