Tiger Woods withdrew from the Honda Classic during the final round Sunday, walking off the Champion Course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., when he was at 5-over-par for the day after 13 holes.
A spokesman said Woods’ back, which bothered him at times last year, had flared up, and that was affirmed by a PGA Tour official.
“It’s my lower back with spasms; it started this morning during warm-ups,” Woods said through a spokesman. “Regarding Doral (this week), too early to tell. I’ll get treatment every day to try and calm it down. Don’t know yet. We’ll see how I am, wait till Thursday and see how it feels.”
Woods is off to the worst start of his career, tying for 41st in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and tying for 80th to miss the secondary cut after 54 holes in his title defense at the Farmers Insurance Open.
One day after he seemed to start getting things turned around with a 5-under-par 65 in round three of the Honda, Woods carded four bogeys and a double-bogey 7 on the third hole to play the front nine of the final round in 5-over 40.
Woods started the back nine with four consecutive pars before leaving, taking the hand of his 6-year-old daughter Sam, who was in the gallery, and walked off the course.
The injury put in question Woods’ title defense in the WGC-Cadillac Championship this week on the TPC Blue Monster at Trump National Doral in Miami.
