After Tiger Woods’ latest physical setback — a withdrawal from the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday with more back problems — it’s difficult to imagine him playing again in 2014.
After watching Woods wince in pain following his tee shot on the ninth hole at Firestone Country Club, causing him to immediately withdraw, it’s difficult to avoid wondering whether he rushed himself back from his March 31 microdiscectomy surgery to alleviate a pinched nerve in his back.
After listening to the pride and defiance in Woods’ voice since his return to competitive golf when talking about how “ahead of schedule’’ he was, you have to wonder if the tenacious competitor in him cost him this time.
It was admirable Woods made it back as quickly as he did from surgery, playing his Quicken Loans National event at Congressional on June 26, just 11 weeks after the operation. Missing the cut after shooting 74-75 that week was easily excusable since Woods hadn’t played since March 9.
When Woods showed up at the British Open last month and tied for 69th (his worst-ever 72-hole finish in a major), hitting the ball all over the map at times, he continued to talk about how he still was getting the “explosion’’ back on his swing.
After yet another alarming withdrawal Sunday, you cannot help but wonder if Woods’ rapid return — rather than perhaps shutting it down for the rest of the year to make sure he was completely healthy — has not exploded in his face.
It’s impossible to think Woods could go to Louisville this week and play in the PGA Championship at Valhalla, despite the fact he won the 2000 PGA Championship there. Course comfort and familiarity did him no good at the Bridgestone, a tournament he has won eight times, including by seven shots last year. Woods was nowhere close to contention all week and was 3-over through eight holes in Sunday’s round.
Woods’ inability to post a top-5 or even a top-10 finish at Firestone makes it impossible for him to qualify for the PGA Tour’s FedEX Cup Playoffs if he does not play in the PGA. Even if he does play the PGA, he would have to win it to qualify.
And forget about the Ryder Cup. It seems Tom Watson just had a huge, scrutinized decision taken off his Ryder Cup captain’s plate, because there is no way he can make Woods a wild-card pick. The one caveat Watson has stated consistently every time he has been asked about whether he would pick Woods has been assurance that Woods is healthy.
How can Watson be assured in so little time — the Ryder Cup is less than two months away — that Woods will be healthy after this latest episode?
The sad and lasting image of Woods from Sunday came when he leaned against his courtesy car after he withdrew and had a difficult time bending over to change out of his golf shoes.
Woods said he “jarred’’ his back while making a swing from an awkward stance next to a bunker on his second shot on the second hole.
After that hole, Woods’ play became more erratic. On the third hole, he hit a 9-iron so woefully short it landed in a pond fronting the green. On the fifth hole, he hit a 5-iron approach shot so short it landed some 70 yards short of the green.
The last straw was the tee shot on No. 9, after which he winced in pain, walked up to playing partner Bubba Watson and informed him that was it for him.
“I just told him I’m praying for him,’’ Watson said. “I know he’s going through some tough times with his back and his body. Hopefully he can get ready to play next week.’’
Woods played the fifth, sixth and seventh holes in 3-over, parred the eighth and then hit a 315-yard drive at the ninth, but could barely bend over to pick up his tee.
“It happened on the second hole when I hit my second shot,’’ Woods told a PGA Tour official afterward. “I fell back in the bunker. I just jarred it and it’s been spasming ever since. It’s just the whole lower back. I don’t know what happened.”
Asked if he had any thoughts on his status for the PGA Championship this week, Woods said, “I don’t know … [I’m] Just trying to get out of here.”
Where Woods goes from here is anyone’s guess. What he should do, though, is what he should have done in the first place after surgery: Shut it down for the rest of the year so he gives himself his best chance at being healthy and strong in 2015 to reboot his career.