Tiger Roundup: Flexions & Protocols Add Up To Back Spasms

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Bob Harig reports on Tiger's birdie-free 78 played amidst back spasms that acted up on the 6th hole.

Harig writes:

Unlike Honda, Woods played on Sunday, but he proceeded to bogey the sixth. It was apparent he was playing in pain, and particularly troublesome seemed to be his putting stroke. He missed short birdie putts on both the eighth and 10th holes as it appeared he had trouble staying in his stance.

"Deeper the flexion, the worst it felt,'' he said. "(Hitting) the driver felt fine.''

Woods underwent treatment in the early part of the week in order to play at Doral. He did not have a full practice round, hitting only pitch shots and putts on Wednesday. He opened the tournament with his worst score ever at Doral, where he has won four times. The 76 left him well back, but he fought for a 73 in Friday's difficult windy conditions and then shot 66 on Saturday, the low round of the week.

John Strege transcribed Johnny Miller's astute observation from the telecast Sunday, a big improvement over his advocacy for more oak trees at Doral. You know, because a little Napa in Miami wouldn't hurt anyone.

"We're so spoiled by Tiger and the past and what he can do on the last day and the fact that he's tough to beat here at Doral especially," NBC's Johnny Miller said early in the telecast, "but he used to dominate the final round scoring average category on tour, leading it seven times. But he was 95th last year. He's great for golf and we need him, but he needs better last rounds."

Gene Wojciechowski considers the ramifications from Tiger's latest back issue.

All in all, he looked like a guy in need of a heating pad and chiropractor. Or who knows these days: An epidural? A leave of absence? Back surgery?

"It's the same thing," Woods said of the back spasms that caused him to WD at the Honda Classic. "If it flares up, it flares up."

It's always dangerous to speculate, but Woods clearly was in discomfort for the majority of his round. When asked if his condition could be something more serious than back spasms, Woods said, "Well, it is back spasms. So we've done all the protocols and it's just a matter of keeping everything aligned, so I don't go into that."

In other words, Woods isn't in a hurry to get into medical specifics. He has always been that way, which is fair enough. You want to ask what he hit on the par-3 ninth, fine. You want to ask about MRIs and X-rays, good luck.

"As I've said, we've done all the protocols," he said.

From the SI/golf.com roundtable.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated (@AlanShipnuck): The era of them being week-in-and-week-out forces is certainly waning. But both remain dangerous in the majors and will for quite some time. And ultimately that’s what all of us care about.

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated (@GaryVanSickle): Tiger's bad back is making the end of an era talk look a little more realistic. The thing about Tiger and Phil is they might not be a factor week-in-and-week-out on Tour or even play that much, but they could still rise to the occasion and knock down a couple of majors in any given year. It's too early to say they're done, but it's not too early to wonder about them.

And there was this among many strong Sunday observations from Steve Flesch on Twitter: