Woods faces a race to be fit for defence of his Masters title

IT would be hard to conceive of a more perfect warm-up tournament for the Masters for Tiger Woods than the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida this week. Talk about an event that ticks all the boxes.

A course he likes? Yes — he’s won the event eight times. Decent weather? There’s no rain forecast for Orlando, with temperatures in the high 20s. And Bay Hill is just a two-hour drive from his home.

So, when Tiger was confirmed as a no-show on Friday, with his agent Mark Steinberg revealing his back was still ‘sore and stiff’ following his appearance at the Genesis Invitational three weeks ago, it was hardly surprising that the US media went into overdrive.

At best, how ready he is going to be for his defence at Augusta in a little over a month’s time? At worst, is there more to this latest back ailment than we are being told? ‘It’s the new normal,’ said Steinberg. ‘Things are week to week. He’s very much good to go when he’s healthy and he’s not when he’s a little sore.’

Who knows whether Tiger will be fit to play in the PGA Tour’s flagship event, the Players Championship, next week. The hope must surely be that he can at least play there, as well as the WGC Match Play Championship in Texas at the end of the month, where he is guaranteed three group matches. In 10 events on the PGA Tour this year Woods has played just eight competitive rounds.

Meanwhile, Stephen Gallacher went from joint leader to a share of 12th at the Oman Open with a twoover 74 yesterday. There is a six-way tie at the top going into today’s final round.

Tommy Fleetwood takes a one-shot lead into the last day of the Honda Classic in Florida after a third-round 67.