Tiger Woods Declining to Compete at Players Championship Is a Mystery

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Tiger Woods skipping the Players Championship this week without any reason will understandably lead to all kind of conjecture about his back, his leg and all manner of possible maladies. But it’s quite possible that Woods simply is being careful, and doesn’t want to overdo it with the Masters looming.

Now that’s not great, either. It was Woods himself who in December sounded confident enough that he said he could attempt to play once a month starting with the Genesis Invitational. The Players Championship on a flat Florida golf course with three weeks after the Genesis and three weeks before the Masters seemed the perfect spot.

It's fair to wonder if there was more to Woods’s withdrawal after six holes during the second round of the Genesis than the illness that was reported. There’s little doubt that Woods was ill … his trips to the restroom in short order suggested that something was amiss.

But Woods himself mentioned a back spasm issue during the first round and while it never seemed apparent, perhaps there was more there? And if it prevented him from working on his game to any degree, maybe that is why he doesn’t feel ready to play this week.

Woods competed a week ago in the Seminole Pro-Member, a one-day outing in which he was paired with PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh. Brad Faxon, the NBC analyst, was there and reported that Woods looked good.

All of which makes this week’s no-show a mystery.

Woods could enter the Valspar Championship next week, but that seems unlikely. So now he tries to prepare for Augusta National and the five-year anniversary of his Masters victory, the 15th major title of his career.

It’s an awful lot to ask him to be competitive after just 24 holes of official golf this year. But that is what Woods now faces.

And a few more things ...

> Matteo Manassero was just 16 years old when he was grouped with Tom Watson during the first two rounds of the British Open at Turnberry in 2009—the same Open where Watson nearly pulled off a miracle before losing in a playoff to Stewart Cink. Manassero was just weeks removed from winning the British Amateur. He ended up tied for 13th at that Open and a year later became the youngest winner on the DP World Tour at age 17. But times have been tough for the Italian golfer, who went 11 years without winning before his victory on Sunday at the Jonsson Workmen Open in South Africa. Now 30, Manassero called it “the best day of my life on a golf course for sure.”

> Will Zalatoris, who tied for fourth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, earned the lone exemption being offered into the Open at Troon. The Open Qualifying Series event was for the top player in the field who made the cut and was not previously exempt. Zalatoris, who was ranked 34th in the OWGR coming into the week, was likely to qualify via the top 50 cutoff in May ... The next event in the Open Qualifying Series is the Mizuno Open in Japan, May 23-26. ... Scottie Scheffler, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, will attempt to become the first player to defend the Players Championship title, which is in its 50th year. ... Scheffler will be the first defending champion to enter the Players at No. 1 in the world since Rory McIlroy in 2020—when the event was canceled. ... The first round of the Masters is in 31 days.