Tiger plays down injury concerns

Woods reveals Achilles is not as bad as first feared following scan 

Back next week: Tiger is still planning to play at Bay Hill next week after his most recent injury scare

Tiger Woods has confirmed that the injury which forced him to withdraw midway through the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship is not as serious as first feared.

The 36-year-old former world No.1 was forced to pull out on the 12^th hole at Doral after appearing to visibly struggle for much of the final round with an injury to his left Achilles.

However, he took to his Twitter page to reassure his army of supporters that there’s nothing particularly untoward about it.

“Got good news from doctor. Only mild strain of left Achilles,” wrote Woods. “Can resume hitting balls late in week and hopeful for next week.”

This news will come as a massive relief to golf fans ahead of the first major of the season, the Masters, getting underway in just three weeks.

Woods has been slowly returning to the sort of form that made him arguably the most dominant golfer of all time this season following an injury and scandal-hit two years. The week prior to Doral, he shot his lowest-ever final round on the PGA Tour, a 62, to finish tied for second at the Honda Classic.

However, when he was forced to limp out of the WGC-Cadillac Championship – the third time in three years he has withdrawn in the middle of a tournament – fresh concerns were raised over his fitness.

Woods has been no stranger to injuries over the past few years, undergoing no fewer than four knee operations.

In 2008, he famously battled to the US Open title, despite having a stress fracture and a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament which forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

Last year, whilst playing at the Masters, he hurt the same Achilles and damaged his knee again after slipping whilst hitting a shot off pine straw. Resultantly, he again missed several months of the season.

The Masters is the only major that Woods has failed to miss in his career up to now. Assuming the injury is indeed just a strain, and he is able to come through the Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Invitational next week unscathed, that’s a record he will protect, giving himself a shot at a fifth ‘Green Jacket’.

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered