Once again, large question marks hang over Tiger Woods’ career after he was forced to withdraw because of injury from the Cadillac Championship during Sunday’s final round at Doral.
Woods, who has had four surgeries on his left knee, pulled out after hitting his drive on the 12th hole because of what he termed an injury to his left leg.
Woods indicated in a statement that the issue was with his left Achilles, the same one that grounded him last summer.
"I felt tightness in my left Achilles warming up this morning, and it continued to get progressively worse," he said. "After hitting my tee shot at 12, I decided it was necessary to withdraw.
"In the past, I may have tried to continue to play, but this time, I decided to do what I thought was necessary.
"I will get my Achilles evaluated sometime early next week."
Last May, Woods was forced to withdraw after nine holes from The Players in Ponte Vedra Beach and had to miss three months of the season to allow that same leg to heal.
He had reconstructive surgery on the knee after winning the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines — his last major victory — and didn’t return to golf for almost nine months.
Woods is scheduled to play at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in two weeks’ time in Orlando. That was to be his last lead-in tournament before the Masters next month.
Woods, who changed his shoes after nine holes at Doral on Sunday, was noticeably limping as he played the 10th and 11th holes.
Before he got to the 12th hole, he was taken by cart to his black Mercedes with darkened windows in the parking lot.
He got behind the wheel and stopped only for a PGA tour media official, who asked him what had happened.
According to the official, Woods said: "Leg injury." When asked which leg, Woods responded that it was his left before driving away.
Oddly enough, Woods was asked about his health on Saturday.
Given that he’d played three tournaments in a row, he was asked how his body was holding up.
“Oh, it feels great,” he said.
