DORAL, Florida, (Reuters) – World number one Tiger Woods arrived at the WGC-Cadillac Championship with concerns over his fitness and gingerly walked off the Blue Monster Course on Sunday with new questions about his ailing back.
With the year’s first major just a month away, Woods’ Masters preparations may have to be quickly reworked as he deals with back spasms that have plagued him through his last two events.
After pulling out of the final round of the Honda Classic a week earlier, the defending champion looked ready to make another unscheduled early exit at Doral on Sunday when his back problems flared up again on the sixth following an awkward shot out of the bunker.
“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. “It’s basically started on six, the second shot out of the bunker, my foot was out of the bunker.
“That’s what set it off and then it was done after that, just see if I could actually manage through the round, keep the spasms at bay.”
Woods, a seven-time winner of the WGC-Cadillac, had surged into contention on Saturday with a third round 66 to start the final day three shots behind but returned a six-over 78 to finish tied for 25th.
