DORAL, Fla. — One day after a third-round 66 — the lowest anyone shot in the tournament — Tiger Woods appeared poised to make a serious run at winning his seventh career WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral and his second in a row.
But Woods shot 78 on Sunday, fading from contention and, along the way, aggravated the lower back injury that forced him to withdraw from last week’s Honda Classic final round.
“It’s over,’’ Woods said, after grimacing during the round from a number of swings. “It’s finally done, which is good.’’
Woods, who began the day three shots out of the lead and finished nine shots back at 5-over, said his back pain began on the sixth hole, when he hit out of a fairway bunker from an awkward lie.
“That’s what set it off and then it was done after that,’’ he said. “Anything in flexion was done, so the deeper the flexion, the worse it felt. The driver felt fine.’’
He called Sunday’s pain “the same thing’’ as what occurred at Honda.
“If it flares up, it flares up,’’ he said. “It’s just a matter of keeping it calm, and we had a quick turnaround here from last week. It would be nice to have a week off where I can shut it down and get some treatment. Normally things like this, you shut it down for a while and then get back up and get the strength and everything developed around it. So it will be nice to take this week off and get everything ready for Bay Hill.’’
The Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in two weeks is the only event he is scheduled to play before The Masters begins April 10.
Rory McIlroy failed to rebound sufficiently from last week’s lost lead at the Honda, finishing 5-over and tied for 25th.
“It’s a frustrating golf course because you feel like you should be doing so much better, and it just doesn’t allow you to,’’ McIlroy said. “It is frustrating, because I feel like I have played much better than what the finish and the score suggests.’’
McIlroy said his plan is to go to California to be with his fiancé, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki.
“I’ll be in Indian Wells and then I’ll be with her until she’s not in the tournament anymore, whenever that is, and come back to Florida, and spend two weeks at home practicing and getting ready … for Houston, go up to Augusta, see the place there, and play Houston and the Masters.’’