Tiger Woods has pulled out of the Dubai Desert Classic after he suffered back spasms, his manager Mark Steinberg has confirmed. Woods struggled in the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic, which saw him finish at the bottom-end of the leader board after day one.
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The 14-time major winner only recently returned from injury in December after he had to undergo two back operations and despite Woods saying that he was not in any pain after the first round; viewers clearly saw he looked physically uncomfortable.
With Tiger Woods out of the Dubai desert Classic, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Danny Willett, who he was grouped with for the first two rounds, will be forced to play with two-ball. His manager said that Woods spoke to the two of them and he feels terrible about this.
"He feels terrible. He talked to Matthew and Danny, feels awful, and he feels terrible for the tournament" the Guardian quoted Mark Steinberg as saying.
His manager added that he was fine last night and went into spasm late last night after dinner and despite trying to shake it off, he could not, thus being forced to withdraw from the tournament.
"He felt OK coming off the golf course yesterday. So he wasn't in pain. I didn't see him at dinner last night but said he was OK and went into a spasm in his lower back, fairly late last night after dinner."
"He tried to work it out last night, didn't really get it worked out. Had treatment starting pretty early this morning, for probably the past three, three and a half hours and he can't get the spasm, it's a back spasm."
"He says it's not the nerve pain that's kept him out for so long. He says it's a back spasm and he just can't get the spasm to calm down. So that's where we are. He can move around. He can't make a full rotation on the swing" Steinberg was quoted as saying.
No information has been given as to the extent of the injury and how long he will be out, but should he recover in time, Tiger Woods is scheduled to play at the Genesis Open from February 16 and the Honda Classic seven days later.
