Woods withdraws during final round with neck injury

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Tiger Woods leaves the fitness trailer after withdrawing Sunday during the final round of THE PLAYERS.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods withdrew during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on Sunday with an injury that he fears might be a bulging disk in his upper back.

"I've been playing with a bad neck for quite a while," Woods said. "I've been playing through it. I can't play through it anymore."

Woods' next announced start had been next month's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, a course where he won by a record 15 shots in 2000. No update has been announced on his status for that event.

Woods, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship in 2001, was 2 over through six holes when he pulled out.

After hitting his tee shot on No. 7 into the native area far right of the fairway, Woods called over an official. He hit his second shot to just short of the green, 51 feet from the pin, and grimaced in apparent pain again.

Woods then walked to the middle of the fairway to shake hands with playing partner Jason Bohn before leaving on a golf cart. Fans gave him a warm ovation, with one man shouting, "Hurry back, Tiger."

"I was a little surprised when he came up to me and said he was done," Bohn said. "... I thought it was his wrist because I saw him the hole before kind of hit a shot and jam his wrist. But he said it was his neck and he looked in a lot of pain.

"When I shook his hand and said, 'Take care of yourself,' he kind of flinched a little bit. He definitely looked like he was in a lot of pain."

As he was driven off in the cart, Woods continually squeezed his right hand and released his fingers. He was taken to the locker room.

Woods left the locker room and headed to a physical therapy trailer. He spent 37 minutes inside, then got whisked away from the course in a black SUV.

Asked what caused the injury, Woods replied: "I don't know. I know playing doesn't help it."

Woods said he first felt the problem prior to the Masters, his first start of this year. He then tweaked it while warming up prior to starting Sunday's round. He said he's "having a hard time with the pain" and that he feels tingling in the fingers of his right hand.

Woods said his neck hurts on his "backswing, downswing and follow-through." He said he's been advised to get an MRI next week.

"Setting up over the ball is fine," Woods added, "but once I start making the motion, it's downhill from there."

Davis Love III said he and Woods were talking about Love's neck injury earlier this week. Love withdrew from THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola in 2004 because of neck problems.

"I know how he feels," Love said. "It's a scary feeling when your fingers are tingling and you're hitting shots and getting headaches. It is a weird feeling. You don't know what to do."

Love said when he pulled out at East Lake in '04 that he was "just scared. Because every time a hit a shot I could feel it in my head, it was tingling. It's disconcerting, certainly. When you're not playing well, it wrecks your confidence, too. So hopefully he can find out what's wrong with it and manage it like I've been trying to."

Until Sunday, the only time Woods has ever mentioned his neck was during his news conference last month at the Masters.

Woods was taken to the hospital Nov. 27 after driving his SUV over a fire hydrant and into a tree. Asked at Augusta what injuries had sent him to the hospital, Woods said, "I had a busted-up lip and a pretty sore neck, and that was it."

He didn't mention the pain when he missed the cut last week for the sixth time in his career at Quail Hollow. But it became obvious something was wrong Sunday.

This is the first time Woods has withdrawn from a tournament since the Nissan Open at Riviera in 2006, when he narrowly made the cut and withdrew from the final two rounds because of the flu. He also withdrew from the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills has a 19-year-old amateur because of a wrist injury from hitting out of deep rough.

THE PLAYERS Championship was only his third tournament back from a five-month hiatus. Woods tied for fourth at the Masters, then missed the cut last week at Quail Hollow with the second-highest round (79) and the highest 36-hole score (153) of his TOUR career.

Woods at times stretched and rolled his neck between shots over the last three days, when he produced some good golf along with some shots that didn't remotely resemble the No. 1 player in the world.

He popped up two tee shots with his 3-wood, and hit another one at a 45-degree angle. In relatively easy scoring conditions, Woods had rounds of 70-71-71 and was tied for 45th going into the last round.

"I saw him hit a couple drives that he kind of lost to the right," Bohn said. "Some of the shots that he hit were quite a bit farther off line than you would expect from the best player in the world."

Tim Clark was working out in the other fitness trailer when Tiger showed up.

"I don't know what to say," Clark said. "I guess he's hurt and there's no point in playing if he's hurt.''

James Driscoll, who teed off in the first group of the day, said, "I don't really have a reaction. If his neck's hurt, he needed to withdraw. If it were me and I hurt my neck, I'd withdraw.''

Added Kevin Stadler: "It's none of my business. I'm sure he'd finish if he could.''

Said Bohn: "I wish him the best. I want him back out here as fast as possible."

Helen Ross, Brian Wacker, Melanie Hauser and the Associated Press contributed to this report.