PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — When it was over, when Tiger Woods’ Players Championship week was cut short after only nine holes in yesterday’s opening round, Woods limped gingerly up a staircase to the players’ parking lot and got into his white Mercedes.
It was parked in a handicap spot.
The symbolism was powerful.
Here’s how yesterday unfolded for the former undisputed No. 1 player in the world: On his opening tee shot, Woods wrenched the left knee and Achilles he injured at the Masters last month, then proceeded to shoot a shocking 6-over-par 42 on the front nine and promptly withdrew from the tournament.
Woods’ latest setback has massive significance regarding his immediate and long-term future, both of which seem incredibly uncertain.
The U.S. Open is just five weeks away, and the next event he’s scheduled to play, the Memorial, is in three weeks.
Woods obviously rushed back too soon, and judging by the way the 35-year-old limped around yesterday, one has to wonder if he ever will be well enough to play another major, never mind win one.
With every obstacle Woods encounters, the distance between his 14 major championships and Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 lengthens.
Two years ago, the notion of Woods matching and breaking Nicklaus’ record seemed inevitable. It now seems implausible.
Now we wonder not when or whether Woods will win again, but when he’ll play again.
Woods likely will have the knee examined this week, and the possibility he made it worse yesterday and that surgery might be required has to be considered.
If Woods is forced to have surgery on the knee — which already has undergone four previous procedures — it’s difficult to imagine him playing again this year.
So, what’s next?
“I don’t know,” Woods said. “I just finished nine holes. Give me a few days to see what the docs say and to take a look at it. I’m having a hard time walking.”
Woods said the pain in his knee began on the first tee shot.
“The knee acted up and the Achilles followed after that and the calf started cramping up,” he said. “Everything started getting tight. It was a chain reaction.”
Woods, who said he injured the knee on the 17th hole at Augusta in the third round when he took an awkward swing from the pine straw, hooked his first tee shot into the pine straw and bogeyed No. 1.
On No. 4, he drove it left, then hit two balls into the water (including one from 30 yards in front of the hazard) and had to make an 18-foot putt for triple. Then he bogeyed No. 5 to tumble to 5-over through five holes.
After he finished up a mess of a bogey on the par-5 ninth hole, where his approach shot nearly hit an elderly woman behind the green, Woods informed his playing partners, Matt Kuchar and Martin Kaymer, that he was withdrawing.
“Have a good back nine,” Woods told them. “Play well.”
At the time of his sudden exit, Woods was nine shots behind Kuchar and Kaymer, both of whom made the turn in 3-under.
“Tiger looked like he was in pain,” Kuchar said. “He was definitely walking much slower than us.”
After he withdrew, Woods was required to make a visit to the PGA Tour’s fitness trailer for an examination — a regulation for players who withdraw from a tournament.
Woods, visibly irked with that procedure, sarcastically muttered, “Well, that was funny,” as he exited the trailer following a visit that didn’t last more than a couple minutes.
With that, Woods limped up the staircase to his car and drove away.
When we’ll see him in competition again is uncertain.
This much is certain: Nothing has been right for Woods since news of his sex scandal broke back in November of 2009.
He lost his wife in a messy, expensive divorce. He lost custody of his children. He lost his dignity. He hasn’t won a tournament in a year and a half. And now he has alarming physical issues that have his playing career in peril.
Karma can be cruel.
Oh, the pain!
A chronology of Tiger Woods’ injuries:
* Yesterday: Withdraws after nine holes at The Players Championship after a 42, his worst nine-hole score at the TPC Sawgrass. “The knee acted up, and then the Achilles followed after that, and then the calf started cramping up. Everything started getting tight,” he said.
* April 26, 2011: Reveals he has a minor sprain of medial collateral ligaments in left knee and minor strain of his left Achilles.
* Dec. 11, 2010: Has cortisone shot in his right ankle because of lingering soreness in his Achilles.
n May 9, 2010: Withdraws on the seventh hole of the final round at The Players Championship with what he fears is a bulging disk. He later says it was inflammation of a joint in his neck.
* December 2008: Ruptures his right Achilles’ tendon.
* June 24, 2008: Eight days after winning the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in a 19-hole playoff, has reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that also repairs cartilage damage. He misses the rest of the 2008 season.
* June 2008: Is advised in the weeks before the U.S. Open that he has two stress fractures in his left tibia and should expect to be on crutches three weeks and out of golf for three more.
* April 15, 2008: Two days after his runner-up finish at the Masters, has arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair cartilage damage. Decides against repairing ligament to avoid longer rehab and to play the other three majors.
* July 2007: Ruptures the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee when he takes a misstep while running on a golf course.
* Dec. 12, 2002: Has surgery to remove fluid inside and around the anterior cruciate ligament.
* December 1994: As a freshman at Stanford, has surgery to remove two benign tumors and scar tissue in his left knee.