Tiger Woods is battling another injury, but he’s optimistic his latest ache won’t be a pain for long.
Woods tweeted on Monday that he was pulling out of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill due to a neck strain that he’s been battling for a few weeks.
Woods played two weeks straight at The Genesis Open and the WGC-Mexico Championship, notching T15 and T10 finishes, respectively. He took off last week’s Honda Classic in hopes of playing two weeks in a row once again at Bay Hill and next week at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
1) Unfortunately due to a neck strain that I’ve had for a few weeks, I’m forced to withdraw from the API. I’ve been receiving treatment, but it hasn’t improved enough to play. My lower back is fine, and I have no long-term concerns, and I hope to be ready for The Players.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) March 4, 2019
2) I’d like to send my regrets to the Palmer family and the Orlando fans. Its connection to Arnold makes it one of my favorite tournaments and I’m disappointed to miss it.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) March 4, 2019
“Unfortunately due to a neck strain that I’ve had for a few weeks, I’m forced to withdraw from the API,” Woods wrote. “I’ve been receiving treatment, but it hasn’t improved enough to play. My lower back is fine, and I have no long-term concerns, and I hope to be ready for The Players.
“I’d like to send my regrets to the Palmer family and the Orlando fans. Its connection to Arnold makes it one of my favorite tournaments and I’m disappointed to miss it.”
Woods has won the API eight times in the past and is coming off of a T5 finish at the event last season.
“We know Tiger would be here if he could and we look forward to having him return in the future,” API tournament director Marci Doyle said, according to GolfChannel.com. “We have a great field and we are looking forward to a tremendous week.”
The focus of Tiger fans now shifts to next week’s Players Championship. Woods said in his tweet that he hopes to be ready for next week’s flagship event. His agent, Mark Steinberg, told multiple outlets that he had nothing more to add to the statement Woods put out on social media.
With the first major championship now just five weeks away, Woods’ schedule is up for grabs. If he’s able to play in next week’s Players Championship, he could choose to return to the Valspar Championship the following week, the site of his T2 finish last year.
However, adding Valspar to the mix would likely result in a three-week streak of events as the WGC-Dell Match Play takes place the following week. After that, Woods would likely take a week off before the Masters gets underway on April 11.
