Bad back again hampers Woods
World No. 1 ailing for 2nd week in row
DORAL, FLA. With his bad back acting up again, world No. 1 Tiger Woods went backward in the final round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral.
Now, what happens going forward?
Woods dealt with a bad back in the final round for the second consecutive week and didn’t know what his schedule would be en route to the Masters. Starting the day three shots out of the lead after shooting a 66 on Saturday, Woods got off to a poor start and hurt his back on the Blue Monster’s sixth hole.
In pain the rest of the way, Woods shot a 6-over-par 78 — his worst score ever at Doral — and didn’t make a birdie for only the eighth time in 1,096 rounds on the PGA Tour. He finished in a tie for 25th, nine strokes behind winner Patrick Reed.
“It is back spasms, so we’ve done all the protocols and it’s just a matter of keeping everything aligned so I don’t go into that,” said Woods, who added that his back got progressively worse as the week wore on. “If I feel good, I can actually make a pretty decent swing. You saw it (Saturday). I actually can make some good swings and shoot a good score, but if I’m feeling like this, it’s a little tough.
“It’s the same thing. It flares up. It’s just a matter of keeping it calm, and we had a quick turnaround from last week. ... It will be nice to take this week off and get everything ready for Bay Hill.”
Last week, Woods withdrew after 13 holes in the final round of the Honda Classic. He didn’t hit full shots this week until the first round and was getting daily treatment for his back spasms. Although his back was giving him fits Saturday, his 66 — his lowest round of the year in relation to par — moved him into contention for the first time this season.
But on the sixth hole in the final round, Woods hit an 8-iron from a fairway bunker with one foot in the bunker and the other outside of the hazard. He grabbed his back and from there was grimacing and stretching. Woods experienced pain when he stood over putts and gingerly bent over to get the ball out of the hole after putting out.
“That’s what set it off and then it was done after that,” Woods said. “I just was trying to see if I could actually manage to keep the spasms at bay. But anything in flexion was done, so the deeper the flexion, the worse it felt.”
Woods is scheduled to defend his title in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in two weeks, likely his last tuneup for the Masters, where he’ll try to win his first major since 2008 and his fifth green jacket.
Woods has been asked if he would rearrange his schedule and add a tournament before heading to Augusta. “I don’t know. Just let me get through this day, get some treatment, and we’ll assess it as time goes on,” said Woods, who has never played the week before playing in the Masters.
Woods said he and his team will reassess how he trains. “We’ve got to make sure that we do preventative things to make sure that it doesn’t happen and adjust certain things, whether it’s swing, lifting, whatever it may be. We’ve done that throughout my career, and this is no different.”