Tiger Woods leaves tournament with back injury

Tiger Woods withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open during Thursday’s first round at Torrey Pines after his back began bothering him.

“It tightened up during the suspensions and it never loosened back up again,” Woods said after pulling out of the tournament, which was delayed during the morning by fog. “It just got progressively tighter. … It’s frustrating that it started shutting down like that. I was ready to go. I had a good warm-up session.”

Woods began his round on the back nine and was on his 12th hole when he was removed from the course in a golf cart after taking a double-bogey on the previous hole. He was 2 over for the day.

Woods was coming off a missed cut last week after firing a second-round 82 in the Phoenix Open.

The 14-time major champion has struggled with injuries the past few years. The withdrawal was the ninth of his career and his third in his last eight events.