SPORTS INSIDE BACK INJURY SIDELINES TIGER AGAIN

Woods withdraws from Dubai; Steele, An tied in Phoenix.

Tiger Woods withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday with back spasms after shooting an opening-round 77 a day earlier, marking another frustrating start to his return to golf from a lengthy injury layoff.

Woods’ manager, Mark Steinberg, said Woods had back spasms on Thursday night after dinner.

“Tiger Woods went into a spasm in his lower back fairly late last night ... got treatment done early this morning for 3½ hours, but can’t get it out,” Steinberg said. “He says it’s not the nerve, but back spasm, and he can’t get the spasms to calm down. He can move around, but he can’t make a full rotation in his swing.”

Woods made a comeback after multiple back surgeries after a 16-month layoff, and was expected to play four times in five weeks, starting from last week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where he missed the cut.

The European Tour, without giving a reason, announced his withdrawal on Friday morning before Woods began his second round in Dubai.

After his opening round, Woods said: “I wasn’t in pain at all ... I was just trying to hit shots and I wasn’t doing a very good job.”

Last week in San Diego, Woods returned to the PGA Tour and lasted only two days. Woods never got anything going after starting with a birdie in the Farmers Insurance Open and missed the cut at Torrey Pines for the first time in his career.

After Dubai, Woods has a week off before playing backto-back weeks on both ends of the country, Los Angeles (Genesis Open) and South Florida (Honda Classic).

Shortly after Woods withdrew, the Emirates Golf Club was hit by strong winds that brought down some trees and forced the second round to be suspended.

Martin Kaymer and Rafael Cabrera-Bello, tied at 4 under after both shooting 69s, had the lowest scores after two full rounds. But George Coetzee was at 9 under after eight holes and overnight leader Sergio Garcia was at 8 under.

Kaymer criticized the decision to suspend play.

“Hard to understand the difference between the morning play and now, therefore even more surprised about the decision (at)European Tour,” the German wrote on Twitter.

Coetzee, however, supported the decision.

“We saw this one tree go down. You get a warning it’s about to collapse and start squeaking. I was walking under the trees hearing the squeaking and thinking, this could be me,” the South African said. “It’s a little bit dangerous out there with the trees collapsing and stuff. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.” PGA Tour: Brendan Steele and Byeong Hun An shared the lead Friday in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, while Justin Thomas cooled off in the desert.

An made a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th for a 5-under 66, matching Steele at 10-under 132 at TPC Scottsdale. Steele had a 67.

Thomas had a 73 to miss the cut by a stroke. He was coming off a two-week break after sweeping the Hawaii events — and shooting 59 at Waialae — for his second and third victories of the season.

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama was a stroke back at 9 under along with first-round leader Matt Kuchar, Martin Laird and Sung Kang.

Three-time champion Phil Mickelson was six shots back at 4 under after a 1-under 71.

The crowd was estimated at 169,000, breaking the Friday record of 160,415 set last year.

MATT YORK / AP Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama makes his way up the 16th hole during Friday’s second round of the Phoenix Open. Attendance was estimated at 169,000.