Rehabbing Woods to skip Masters … again
Tiger Woods won’t play in the Masters for the third time in the past four years, announcing Friday on his website that rehabilitation on his back didn’t allow him enough time to prepare. GOLF
“I did about everything I could to play, but my back rehabilitation didn’t allow me the time to get tournament ready,” Woods said on his website.
He still plans to be at Augusta National but only for dinner with past Masters champions on Tuesday, just like last year.
Woods, 41, missed the Masters for the first time in 2014 because of the first of what would be three surgeries on his back. He played in 2015 despite taking off two months with chipping problems, and he tied for 17th.
He missed the cut in the other three majors that year, had two more back surgeries and missed 15 months of competition to let it heal.
But, after an upbeat return in the Bahamas at his unofficial Hero World Challenge, Woods curiously signed up for four tournaments in a five-week stretch, including going to Dubai.
He missed the cut at Torrey Pines, a place where he has won eight times as a pro. And after a 77 in easy conditions at Dubai in early February, he with- drew the next day, citing back spasms.
PGA — At Humble, Texas, Sung Kang shot a 9-under-par 63 to take a six-shot lead in a record-breaking second round at the Houston Open.
After shooting a 65 on Thursday, Kang was at 16-under 128 through two rounds, setting the 36-hole tournament record of 129 by one stroke, set by Curtis Strange in 1980 and matched by Blaine McCallister in 1993.
The 29-year-old South Korean, who entered the week ranked No. 202 in the world, bested the tournament course record at the Golf Club of Houston by three strokes, topping Johnson Wagner’s 132 in 2008.
Kang’s 9-under on Friday matched the 18-hole tournament course record and helped him take the largest 36-hole lead in tournament history,