Tiger Woods is at the “beginning of a long road” to recovery after a car crash which left the 15-time major winner with serious injuries to his right leg, according to leading sport surgeon Professor Bill Ribbans.

Woods, 45, was extricated from the wreck in Los Angeles on Tuesday and had an operation where open fractures to his tibia and fibula and injuries to his foot and ankle were stabilised with the insertion of a rod, screws and pins.

There is speculation his golfing career is in jeopardy, but Ribbans has first-hand experience at how swift elite sportspeople can heal after operating on seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher in July 1999.

“The best case scenario for the tibia and fibula fractures, high-energy, should be healed somewhere between 12 and 20 weeks. But then you’ve got all of the other injuries that have got to heal as well.

“We don’t know but I think it possible that he might require further surgery. If they’ve had to open up and release all of his muscles, sometimes you have to go back and consider whether you’ve got to do a skin graft over that.

“But people do come back from these injuries. I don’t want this to be all doom and gloom. Despite his catalogue of orthopaedic and spinal injuries, he’s an amazing athlete and you can be absolute sure he will have the best rehabilitation you can get.

“He went to a trauma centre and these guys are going to be right at the top of their game, so he will have everything he needs, but it’s going to be a long, hard road for him.”