Posted on 05/12/2011 10:48:23 AM PDT by crosshairs
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The problems continue for Tiger Woods, only this time it's his livelihood, not his image, in the balance.
Woods withdrew after shooting 42 on the front nine at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday, citing pain in his left leg that has plagued him intermittently throughout his career.
"The knee acted up and then the Achilles followed after that, and then the calf started cramping up," said Woods, who triple-bogeyed the par-4 fourth hole and made three bogeys and no birdies. "Everything started getting tight, so it's just a whole chain reaction."
The injury for Woods raises red flags because his knee has been operated on four times, and he reinjured it while hitting a shot from under a tree at the Masters last month. The exact diagnosis was a grade-one mild medial collateral ligament sprain to his left knee and a mild strain to his left Achilles? tendon, both suffered while hitting a shot from pine straw on the 17th hole of his third round at Augusta. In an effort to let it heal, he did not enter the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow last week, an event he normally plays. He sounded optimistic about the injury earlier this week at Sawgrass.
"Oh, yeah, the knee is better, no doubt," Woods said Tuesday. "The Achilles is better, as well. So I'm here playing."
More on Tiger: Special Section | Life in Pictures | SI Covers
Thursday, though, was a struggle from the outset. Woods said he began feeling pain in his leg from "the first tee shot," and more pain when his foot slipped on pine straw on the second hole. Now there seems to be nothing "mild" about his situation, and after withdrawing he admitted he's concerned. His 42 was his highest nine-hole score at the Players by three shots, but not his highest on Tour. He's shot 43 four times, most recently on the back nine at last year's Wells Fargo Championship.
Woods withdrew from the 2010 Players, too, with an inflamed neck joint.
As his playing partners Martin Kaymer and Matt Kuchar stepped onto the 10th tee at 10:30 Thursday morning, Woods stepped to the podium to offer a few quotes before ducking into the locker room. He was directed into the Tour's medical trailer, where he stayed for about 60 seconds, before emerging and gingerly climbing into a white Mercedes in the players' parking lot, presumably for a two-hour ride home that would offer plenty of time for reflection.
"Felt fine during warm-up," Woods said, "and then as I played it progressively got worse."
Woods, 35, has not won a tournament in 18 months, and has slipped to eighth in the World Ranking. It had been widely assumed that he would rebound from his tumultuous 2010, since his troubles then were personal and not career-threatening, but now it's anyone's guess when or whether Woods will win again.
All I can say is, well said and spot on. I’ve never had the awe for Davis Love III that the average golf fan has.
Can you imagine Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, or Nick Faldo being intimidated by ANYONE?!?
AND...can you imagine what they would have been like with the equipment of today?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.