As so often when it comes to a saga involving Tiger Woods, there were more questions than answers following his withdrawal just an hour before his second round tee-time at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Friday.
The official explanation from manager Mark steinberg was that a back spasm that began on Thursday evening had still not cleared sufficiently by Friday lunchtime to enable Woods to rotate properly and play golf.
Any suggestion the spasm lingered at the prospect of five hours competing in the wind that eventually caused a mid-afternoon suspension of play belongs in the realms of speculation.What is beyond dispute is that Woods’s trip to the Emirates was a shambles from start to finish.
Tiger can insist all he likes that he was in no pain during his horrific first- round 77 but it looked as plain as day that he was unfit for the purpose of playing tournament golf. Certainly, few would argue with the striking headline on the Golf Channel website proclaiming he looked like the oldest 41-year- old golfer in the world.
It was a blessing when the news came he was pulling out, for the Tiger we saw on Thursday would have struggled to break 90 in the torrid conditions that prevailed.Is it just a temporary setback or are these the sad, final death throes for perhaps the greatest golfer of all time? A question that right now is impossible to answer but all your gut instincts are grave.
Three wholly unconvincing rounds into his comeback after three back operations and 15 months away, and already he is pulling up lame? You don’t have to be a cynic to fear the worst.Steinberg remains optimistic Woods will be able to play in the Genesis Open in Los Angeles in less than a fortnight, and he will be pulling out all the stops for that one given the event benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation.Indeed, Tiger will probably have to be there whether he’s playing or not, so get ready for another song and dance routine in La La land.
‘Tiger says it’s not the nerve pain that kept him out of the game for so long and based on that he’s hoping he will be OK in the short term,’ said steinberg. ‘It went into spasm fairly late on Thursday night and he tried to work it out.‘Treatment started pretty early this morning, for probably three- and-a-half hours and he can’t get the spasm to calm down.‘Look, he doesn’t have the strongest back in the world and so it’s probably easier to go into spasm.
He’s dealt with them before. They come and they go.’Never mind the Genesis Open.What we could do with is a Book of Revelation and some truths as to what is going on with Woods and his back.I had a drink with a leading player here and his exaspera-tion was obvious. ‘What is the problem with giving people afull picture of what is happening?’ he said.
‘I think we could all see there were problems on Thursday that weren’t there when he played in the Bahamas before Christmas. Why not tell us what’s going on? That’s never been Tiger, though, has it?
’Many questioned the wisdom of flying 10,000 miles after his first comeback event in California to compete here, and particularly when his next event is taking place in the very state from whence he came. But Woods was determined to test his back with four events in five weeks to see how it would hold up. sadly, he got precisely the answer he didn’t want.
As it turned out, Woods would only have played five holes if he’d been able, before the suspension came.But that would have meant 31 holes today, if he’d somehow made the cut, and that wouldn’t have done him any favours either.
Everyone else in that half of the draw got a lucky break, since they will come back this morning in the calm of a more typical Dubai day to complete their second rounds.The clubhouse lead is held on four under by Martin Kaymer and Rafa Cabrera-Bello, but there could be a dozen players who go past them.
Among those hoping to make hay are sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Henrik stenson and Ian Poulter.