Woods withdraws, cites Achilles ache
DORAL, Fla. — Tiger Woods made a hasty exit from the Wgc-cadillac Championship, withdrawing after 11 holes Sunday after aggravating his left Achilles tendon.
Woods, a winner of 14 major titles, was 3-over par for the round, 6 under for the tournament when he withdrew. He started the day 9 under, eight shots behind thirdround leader Bubba Watson.
Woods limped from Doral Golf Resort & Spa after hitting his drive at the 12th hole, taken immediately to his car and stopping only long enough to tell a PGA Tour official it was a “left leg” problem.
Woods later issued a statement explaining the injury.
“I felt tightness in my left Achilles warming up this morning and it continued to get progressively worse,” Woods said. “After hitting my tee shot at (No.) 12, I decided it was necessary to withdraw.
“In the past, I may have tried to continue to play, but this time I decided to do what I thought was necessary.”
Woods said he would get the Achilles evaluated “sometime early next week.”
It marked the third time in the past three years that
Woods has withdrawn from a tournament. Last year, he lasted nine holes at The Players Championship before taking a nearly three-month hiatus to rest a sprained left knee and Achilles tendon.
The injury also came just seven days after Woods shot a closing 62 at the Honda Classic — finishing two shots behind Rory Mcilroy with the lowest closing round of his career and best since he took a four-month break in late 2009 after admitting to extramarital affairs.
Woods had played five of the past seven weeks, starting with a third-place finish in Abu Dhabi.
Sunday’s front nine included no birdies and two bogeys for Woods, who changed shoes before heading to the TPC Blue Monster’s 10th tee. He drove into the left rough, then stepped gingerly after a second shot was pulled leftward into the water.
Woods bogeyed the hole, then parred No. 11 from a greenside bunker. But after blasting a 321-yard drive into the fairway at No. 12, he asked officials to summon a golf cart and was driven off the course.
Woods has had four operations on his left knee, including reconstructive surgery one day after winning the 2008 U.S. Open in a 19-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate. Last year, he sprained the knee while hitting a shot off pine straw during the third round of the Masters.
He tied for fourth at Augusta National following a closing 67, then took a month off before arriving at The Players. After his withdraw there, he stayed away until the Wgc-bridgestone Invitational in August — missing the U.S. Open and British Open in the process.