Tiger Woods ahead of The Players Championship: 'I feel good'
Tiger Woods said his health is good on Monday when he arrived at TPC Sawgrass ahead of The Players Championship — just one week after he withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a neck strain.
“Everything is good,” Woods told Golfweek. “I feel good. I needed last week off.”
Woods spent nearly three hours practicing at the course on Monday, working both on the practice green and going through his entire bag on the range. He said he’ll play a nine-hole practice round on Tuesday before his customary press conference.
The 80-time PGA Tour winner withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week due to a lingering neck issue that hindered him at the World Golf Championships-Mexico tournament last month, where he finished tied for 10th. He received treatment after each round of that tournament, and said the injury significantly impacted his swing.
“I could feel it,” Woods told Golfweek. “It wasn’t fun. I couldn’t make a backswing. I couldn’t make a follow-through. I couldn’t make a complete swing.”
While the 43-year-old has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational a record eight times, he said it simply wasn’t worth risking playing in it last week. Instead, he took nearly the entire week off — not practicing one bit until he started easing back into it on Saturday.
“I didn’t want to push it,” Woods told Golfweek. “No need to. Not at my age. Can’t do that anymore.”
While he officially registered for the tournament Monday, Woods can still withdraw from the The Players Championship. Technically, he can wait up until his Thursday afternoon tee time — in which he’s paired with Patrick Reed and defending champion Webb Simpson — to do so if he wants.
Based on his comments on Monday, though, it sounds like Woods is good to go to compete in his fourth tournament of the year this week in Ponte Verda Beach, Florida.
“I feel good, man,” he said.
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