The Loop

Tiger off to terrible start at TPC Sawgrass

May 12, 2011

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods' performance at the 2010 Players Championship was cut short by an injury that forced him to withdraw during the final round. That could wind up making this this year's outing look like a cameo.

Teeing off at 8:08 a.m. with Martin Kaymer and Matt Kuchar, Woods promptly bogeyed the first hole. It's gotten worse from there.

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After pars on No. 2 and 3, Tiger found the water with his approach on No. 4, then dropped and found the water again. He holed an 18-footer, but it was for a triple bogey. A wild approach on No. 5 led to another bogey to put the 14-time major champion in last place at the time of this post with half the field out on the course.

As Ron Sirak wrote yesterday, Woods entered this week with plenty of questions surrounding his inconsistent golf game and nagging knee and Achilles injuries. It's still early, but he clearly hasn't found any answers at this point.

__UPDATE:__Clearly bothered by injury, Woods withdraws after a bogey that gave him a front-nine score of 42. He answered questions for a few minutes before heading to the clubhouse.

"Yeah, the knee acted up and then the Achilles followed after that and then the calf started cramping," said Woods, who noted the pain started on the first tee shot. "Everything started getting tight, so it's just a whole chain reaction."

When asked to rank how bad the pain is, Woods responded, "I'm having a hard time walking."

-- Alex Myers

Follow on Twitter: @AlexMyers3

(Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)