Tiger Woods out of Players Championship with back injury

Tiger Woods will miss next week’s Players Championship at Sawgrass because of a back injury.

Tiger Woods is out

Woods has not played since the Genesis Open three weeks ago where he came 68th and missed this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, citing back stiffness.

The Masters begins on 9 April where Woods, 44, will hope to defend the title he won for a fifth time in 2019.

“I have to listen to my body and properly rest when needed,” Woods tweeted.

“My back is simply just not ready for play next week.”

The American has twice won the Players Championship, which is often referred to as an unofficial ‘fifth major’.

Woods, currently ranked 11th in the world, has only played two PGA Tour events in 2020, the other being the Farmers Insurance Open where he finished in a tie for ninth.

The 15-time major winner has had four back surgeries in his career and had a fourth knee operation in August.

The Players Championship, which Woods won in 2001 and 2013, begins on 12 March. – bbc.com