Tiger Woods will not play the next two weeks in previously scheduled starts at the Genesis Open outside of Los Angeles and The Honda Classic, near Woods' home in Jupiter, Fla.
Woods made the announcement Friday before the deadline to commit to the Genesis Open, which is run for the first time this year by his company TGR Live.
"My doctors have advised me not to play the next two weeks, to continue my treatment and to let my back calm down," Woods said on his website. "This is not what I was hoping for or expecting. I am extremely disappointed to miss the Genesis Open, a tournament that benefits my foundation, and the Honda Classic, my hometown event. I would like to thank Genesis for their support, and I know we will have an outstanding week."
Woods withdrew from the 2017 Omega Dubai Desert Classic before his second round tee time, citing lower back spasms, the fourth time in 21 worldwide starts dating back to the 2014 Honda Classic that he has cited that injury in withdrawing from an official event. He opened the tournament with a birdie-free 77 but insisted despite visual evidence to the contrary that he was pain free during the round.
“No, I wasn’t in pain at all,” Woods said last Thursday. “I was just trying to hit shots and I wasn’t doing a very good job.”
Through his agent, Mark Steinberg, Woods communicated in withdrawing that he suffered the back spasms during dinner and could not relieve them with treatment through the European Tour's physio team.
Before the Dubai withdrawal, Woods missed the cut in his official PGA Tour return at the Farmers Insurance Open, missing the cut by four shots after rounds of 76 and 72.
Woods had intended to play an ambitious schedule of four tournaments in five weeks. Instead, he'll play three out of a possible 16 rounds, going 76-72-77. These two withdrawals come on the heels of simultaneously pulling out of the Safeway Open in October and the Turkish Airlines Open in November, saying during Safeway tournament week that his game was "vulnerable."
As for Woods' next start, that "will be determined at a later date after his back is reassessed."
