Now, Tiger backs out of a press conference

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — It has come to this for Tiger Woods: Not only is he withdrawing from golf tournaments, but also he is withdrawing from press conferences.

There was a time when Woods was accomplishing firsts in golf at a breakneck pace.

This week, Woods is at it again, setting the bar with another — albeit dubious — first: Unofficially, he became the first player to withdraw from a scheduled press conference.

Woods on Friday withdrew from this week’s Genesis Open, an event that benefits his foundation and begins with its opening round Thursday at Riviera Country Club, citing the same back spasms that caused him to pull out of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic two weeks ago.

He was scheduled to speak to reporters on Tuesday. That was rescheduled for Wednesday until it was canceled altogether late Tuesday night, with Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg telling ESPN.com it was “more precautionary’’ — as if Woods might pull a muscle sitting in a comfortable chair for 15 minutes while speaking to reporters.

The whole thing smacks of Woods wanting to avoid being grilled about his latest physical setback. Steinberg’s explanation pretty much confirmed that when he said: “This isn’t about him not doing a press conference. What is going to be accomplished? What is he going to say? That he hopes his back spasms calm down.’’

If Woods, 41, truly isn’t physically able to conduct an interview, then it’s fair to wonder if he ever is going to come back and play again.

Since 2014, he has had more back surgeries (three) than top-10 finishes (one).

He has played 19 times since his first back surgery and had seven missed cuts and four withdrawals. In his first 322 PGA Tour starts, he had a total of five withdrawals.

“Hopefully, we see [Woods] back at Bay Hill [March 16-19 for the Arnold Palmer Invitational],’’ said Jason Day, the No. 1 ranked player in the world. “It’s a double-edged sword for him, because he has to come out and play tournament golf, but you also have to watch your back and make sure you’re healthy, because you have to play golf to get tournament ready and get the competitive rounds under your belt and get those juices flowing again.’’

When — or if ? — those juices ever get flowing again for Woods remains very much in question after this latest series of setbacks.