Woods injured again, out of Dubai Classic

AMERICAN GOLF star Tiger Woods today withdrew from the Omega Dubai Desert Classic owing to back spasms, raising fresh questions on his comeback bid.

Woods returned to competitive golf last December after a 17-month lay-off due to two surgeries and rehab and played four full rounds at the Hero World Challenge.

But that has also been the last he played four rounds in a tournament. He missed cut at Torrey Pines and withdrew after one round in Dubai. He did seem to be walking gingerly at times and was careful while lining his putts. There were times when he seemed to be in pain. 'Spasms' and not nerve pain, which kept him out for long, was given as the reason by Mark Steinberg, his long-time manager. Ironically, Woods on Thursday, said, "No, I wasn't in pain at all. I was just trying to hit shots and I wasn't doing a very good job." Woods' opening 77 was also his worst and the only time he had no birdies.

While Woods himself did not come to the course, his manager, Steinberg explained the situation that Woods was unable to make a "full rotation on the swing". Steinberg said he suffered spasms last night and this morning he worked on it, but it had not subsided, at which point he apparently decided to withdraw and not risk his back anymore. "(He) felt okay coming off the golf course, yesterday. So, it wasn't pain. I didn't see him at dinner last night but said he was okay. And (then) went into a spasm in his lower back, fairly late night after dinner. Tried to work it out last night. Didn't really get it worked out. Had treatment starting pretty early this morning, for probably past three to three and a half hours.”

AP Tiger Woods during the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday.