Tiger Woods will pay the price of his astonishing bravery at the US Open with months of surgery and medical treatment to save his career. The world's No1 golfer announced last night that he will be forced to take the rest of the year off to have an operation on a torn anterior cruciate ligament and to allow a double stress fracture of his left tibia to heal.

But the announcement, which means that he will miss the Open Championship next month and the Ryder Cup against Europe in September, will lead to an inquest into whether it was worth ignoring medical advice and risking his career to win the US Open, his fourteenth major championship, at Torrey Pines, near San Diego, on Monday. His target remains the record 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, but that has been put on hold with the next in line, the Open, struck off his calendar.

His scarcely believable achievement of playing five gruelling rounds in five days with the injuries to his left knee and leg to overcome Rocco Mediate will go into the history books as one of the most remarkable in any sport. Any doubts raised by Retief Goosen, the South African who has won the US Open twice, that Woods might have been playing to the gallery at Torrey Pines have been replaced by concern for the player's long-term future.

Perhaps the last public sighting of Woods late on Monday told the story as he limped painfully across the car park at Torrey Pines, clutching the US Open trophy, for his journey home and months of intensive treatment.

Woods, 32, is a global phenomenon, not only regarded as the best golfer to pick up a club but also a sportsman who draws casual followers in their thousands. Many of the 200,000 expected at Royal Birkdale, who will have wanted to see whether Woods could add his name to the legendary Claret Jug for a fourth time, will be disappointed. Mike Gilyeat, the managing secretary at Birkdale, said: “Of course we all wanted to see Tiger, but we believe we are set up for a fantastic tournament. In one way, Tiger has already done his best for us by producing such a marvellous performance in the US Open to heighten the interest in golf.”

Woods may be less troubled at the prospect of missing the Ryder Cup at the Valhalla Club in Kentucky, Louisville, as he has played in five but lost the past four. Paul Azinger, the United States captain, said yesterday: “This should not be about Tiger and the Ryder Cup now. This is about Tiger's wellbeing and his march to history.”

Woods understood the risks all along, revealing yesterday that he knew before the US Open that he was seriously injured, which became clear as he winced and grimaced his way around Torrey Pines, each shot an exercise in agony. He had arthroscopic surgery in mid-April to clear up cartilage trouble, only to be told last month that the intense rehabilitation programme on which he had embarked before the US Open had led to the stress fractures. They should heal with rest, but he will need reconstructive surgery on his ruptured ligament.

“It was important to me that I disclose my condition publicly at an appropriate time,” he said. “Now it is clear that the right thing to do is listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee.”

With Woods's immediate future decided, a question mark hangs over what impact his absence will have on golf, particularly among sponsors who thrive on his celebrity, and the Open, which will be the first big test. Dominic Curran, a director at Synergy, a leading sponsorship business, believes that there could be a benefit, particularly for British golf.

“We all love watching Tiger, but the Open is bigger than any one player,” he said. “We have a raft of British golfers coming through, like Justin Rose and Luke Donald, while Lee Westwood was a terrific third at the US Open. How marvellous would it be for one of those to come through and take the Open?”

Some are still convinced, however, that Woods can add to his 14 major championships this year and odds as short as 10-1 were being offered on some betting exchanges last night.