Advertisement

Tiger Woods leaves Doral with more questions than answers

Tiger Woods leaves Doral with more questions than answers

Before Thursday, most questions surrounding the Cadillac Championship at Doral were about the most popular golfer on the planet and his aching back, and four days later people are still wondering what just happened with Tiger Woods.

Following a Saturday 66, Woods had played himself back into the golf tournament and was in the penultimate group come Sunday chasing down the likes of Patrick Reed and Jason Dufner. Woods looked confident on the golf course just like he did a week prior as he stormed around the Honda Classic with a third round 65, but it was a very similar situation this Sunday as it was last week when Tiger walked off the golf course citing back spasms that wouldn’t allow him to make a turn with his golf swing.

This week Tiger finished the golf tournament, but it wasn’t without an entire final round that saw the No. 1 player in the world wincing and grabbing his back on his way to a birdie-less 78. At one point on the back nine on Sunday, Tiger saved a par and then asked Hunter Mahan’s caddie to pick up his ball out of the hole because he was having such a hard time bending over.

This week had a chance to be a bounce-back for Woods, but it turned out to be a step in the wrong direction and another disappointing week for a man that won five PGA Tour events just a season ago.

Tiger shouldn't have played this week.

He should have taken as much time off as his back needs, resting up as Augusta National looms just a few weeks away. Sure, Tiger needs the reps and if he was healthy it would have made sense to play a golf course he has won at four times, but all this week did was force us to question the durability of a man who is less than two years away from turning 40.

Now comes the long wait to see what Tiger will do next.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is two weeks away, a tournament Woods would play if healthy, but if his back is still doing what it seems to be doing then there is no reason for Tiger to spend any time on a golf course until he’s 100 percent healthy.

This week was supposed to be a bounce-back for Tiger, but it ended up with him struggling with his body, with his golf swing and with the ability to play four rounds of healthy golf.