Tiger Woods’ 2014 season got off to a rocky start, and after withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational this past Tuesday due to back spasms, it doesn’t appear to be getting any better.
Woods has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill 8 times in his illustrious career, including last year. In the past, the tournament has served as a confidence builder heading into The Masters and since he turned professional in 1997, Woods has missed the tournament on only one other occasion.
Though Tiger has dealt with injuries throughout most of his career, the root of his back issues can likely be traced back to The Barclays last August. Though he finished the tournament in 2nd place behind Adam Scott, Woods walked gingerly most of his final round and at one point, even fell to his knees in pain.
After showing signs of stress related to his back throughout the remainder of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the President’s Cup, Woods’ season finally ended and with nearly 4 full months of rest before he had to start his 2014 season, most people (including Tiger) expected his back issues to simply go away.
Poor finishes at The Dubai Desert Classic and The Farmers Insurance Open in the early months of the 2014 PGA Tour season left many wondering where the physical state of Tiger’s body was at but with no visible signs of discomfort, his bad play was largely attributed to the long lay-off.
However, the notion of early season rust was short-lived after Tiger again experienced back problems in the final round of The Honda Classic, forcing him to withdraw with just five holes left to play. As he’s done throughout a good deal of his career, Woods took three short days off and teed it up Thursday in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral. And after a tournament low 66 on Saturday that put him only two shots behind leader Patrick Reed heading into Sunday, Tiger’s back problems flared up and he shot a closing round 78 — marking the highest final round score he’s ever posted.
Woods decision to not play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational serves as a testament to how serious his back issues may actually be but what’s more disconcerting is his uncertainty regarding his participation in this year’s Masters tournament. The Masters is the only major that Tiger has never missed and with a full three weeks to rest, receive treatment and get his body ready for the event, it’s unlikely that he won’t be in the field.
If Tiger does in fact participate in The Masters, his performance will be the biggest question mark. If his back issues continue, he likely won’t be able to put in as much practice and though in the past, he’s shown almost un-human like qualities in his ability to win tournaments under a number of difficult circumstances, the player we’ve seen over the past few years certainly isn’t the player that we once knew.
But if there’s one thing we’ve learned from watching Tiger over the years it’s that nothing is out of the realm of possibility. If he can win the US Open with a broken leg and a bum knee, winning The Masters with a sore back should be a walk in the park.