Back problems return to haunt Woods at Torrey
Print Edition
TIGER Woods knew his tournament was over before anyone else did. Standing on the third green on the North Course at Torrey Pines, his 12th hole of the opening round in the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, he motioned to caddie Joe LaCava to retrieve his ball marker some 35 feet from the cup.
Moments later, he shook hands with Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel, got into a golf cart and headed for the parking lot.
The scene has become far more familiar than Woods posing with a trophy, especially over the last 18 months.
Woods left the Honda Classic in the final round after 13 holes with what he called back spasms. He was driven to the parking lot at Firestone after eight holes when he said spasms returned from a jarring leap into a deep bunker. And on Thursday, the reason for withdrawing was the weather.
It’s a little more complicated than that. Woods said he warmed up nicely at Torrey Pines in the morning as fog finally lifted along the Pacific bluffs. Waiting for his tee time, play was suspended for 90 minutes when the fog returned, and Woods didn’t quite feel the same.
“It’s just my glutes are shutting off,” he said. “Then they don’t activate and then, hence, it goes into my lower back. So I tried to activate my glutes as best I could in between, but they never stayed activated.”
Woods now has gone 12 straight PGA Tour events without a top 10, dating to his runner-up finish in The Barclays in 2013 when back pain dropped him to his knees. This was his first round since a career-high 82 last week in the Phoenix Open to tie for last with a club pro and miss the cut by 12 shots. It has become a troubling trend for Woods. In his last six tournaments since back surgery last March, he has missed the cut three times, withdrawn twice and finished 69th in the British Open, his lowest 72-hole finish in a major.
Nicholas Thompson had an 8-under 64 on the North Course and had a one-shot lead over Michael Thompson when play was suspended by darkness.
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