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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida — Tiger Woods withdrew from The Players Championship on Sunday with an injury that he fears might be a bulging disk in his upper back.
“I’ve been playing with a bad neck for about a month,” Woods said.
After hitting his drive well to the right on the seventh hole, Woods called for an official. He hit his second shot and grimaced, then walked to the middle of the fairway to shake hands with playing partner Jason Bohn before leaving on a golf cart.
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Woods had his head bowed for several minutes as he sat in front of his locker, and other times kept his eyes closed as if he were in the middle of a nap before answering questions from three reporters. At one point, he slammed his golf shoe to the ground.
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“I’ve been playing through it,” Woods said quietly. “I can’t play through it anymore.”
He said he first felt the injury before the Masters and plans to have an MRI next week. He said he was having a hard time with the pain, and that there was a tingling sensation on his right side down to his fingers. As he was driven off in a golf cart, Woods continuing squeezed his right hand and released his fingers.
“I might have a bulging disk,” he said.
