Tigers Woods Pulls Out Of World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational

For the second time this year Tiger Woods has withdrawn from a tournament on the final day of play. Citing a back injury, he pulled out of the Honda Classic during the final round earlier this year, and he did it again at the Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday.

Woods had back surgery on March 31 and had been back in action less than two months before aggravating the injury this weekend. He looked visibly pained as he moved through the front nine, with each bad shot looking even worse than the bad shot before it.

It’s hard to know if the back pain was symptomatic of an abysmal first half or vice versa, but Woods had clearly had enough after the ninth whole. He looked to struggle changing his shoes before being driven off the course by his caddie Joe LaCava, who dropped him off at his car in the parking lot.

Said Woods, “It happened on the second hole when I hit my second shot, I feel back into the bunker. I just jarred it, and it’s been spasming ever since. It’s just the whole lower back. I don’t know what happened.”

The timing of the injury is significant, with the final major of the season just a week away. The PGA Championship will be played at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville next week—at this point his status for the tournament is unknown.

Woods plans to make the trip and hopes to be able to play. If he does compete, hopefully he has saved his best performance of the season for last because he’ll need a strong showing to put himself in the FedExCup Playoffs and for Ryder Cup team consideration.