Tiger Woods To Miss Bay Hill, Masters In Question

In an announcement that was a surprise to few, Tiger Woods let us know on Friday that he won’t be playing in next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. Bay Hill has been Tiger’s personal playground through out the years, but even that wasn’t enough to entice him to make an appearance. He’s won the event eight times, but this will now be the second straight year he’s failed to show up. With The Masters on the horizon who knows if that will be enough to get him out of his latest hibernation.

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In what has been a disastrous return from a back injury that stripped him from most of 2014, Tiger remains on the sidelines and with a return nowhere in sight. The lasting images from the two and a half rounds he’s played on tour this year are shooting an eighty-two, missing a cut, and a withdrawal. His back that tormented him last year is supposedly healthy, now its his game that is far from it. In a statement released on his website he talked bout his decision to skip Bay Hill, and what’s next for him.

"“I spoke to Arnold today and told him that I will not play in his tournament this year. I’m sorry I won’t be in Orlando next week, but I know it will be a really successful event. I’ve put in a lot of time and work on my game and I’m making strides, but like I’ve said, I won’t return to the PGA TOUR until my game is tournament ready and I can compete at the highest level. I hope to be ready for the Masters, and I will continue to work hard preparing for Augusta.” (Credit Tigerwoods.com)"

After Bay Hill there are two tournaments until The Masters, but don’t expect to see Tiger at either of them. The last time he played a leg of the Texas swing The Alamo was still standing. So this now leaves us waiting to see if he will figure things out so that he can take that drive down Magnolia Lane in April. Bay Hill would have been a good place to get some competitive reps under his belt. It could have been a place to work on the kinks on a golf course he knows well and to maybe rely on past success to pull him out from the abyss he seems to be stuck in.

Tiger’s leave of absence from the game has been bizarre to say the least. The fact that he’s not playing cause he physically can’t compete is something we thought we’d never see from him. It was obvious in Phoenix and at Torrey Pines that something was seriously wrong, but it’s still shocking to think that things would get this bad for him. He’s had a month to practice and get it right and now he’ll have another three weeks to prepare for Augusta, but will that be enough?

Using The Masters as a place for his triumphant return is no big surprise to Woods. After leaving the game in 2010 to deal with his off the course scandals he chose to return at Augusta. After not playing at all that year he miraculously finished in a tie for fourth. The only difference from then and now is that in 2010 his off the course life was in shambles, and now the mess is on it. He can’t drive the ball straight, his iron shots miss plenty of greens, and when he misses those greens he can’t chip on to them.

Bay Hill could have been a place for him to send a message to us that he was making progress and that playing well at Augusta is a possibility. If he goes into The Masters as messed up as he appeared to be in his first two starts this year, it’s going to be a disastrous few days for the four-time winner. If we can figure out that going to Augusta not firing on all cylinders would be a bad idea, it’s safe to say he knows it too. So when Tiger tells us that he won’t be back till he’s tournament ready, I believe him. It’s just for him it used to be all about winning, now that seems to be the last thing we think about when it comes to Woods.

Next: If McIlroy's Mind Masters Ready

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