Tiger Woods's woes continued on Sunday when he pulled out of the Players Championship after completing six holes of his final round, citing a painful neck.
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Competing in only his third event since his private life unraveled last year amid allegations of marital infidelities, the American did not appear in discomfort when he consulted with an official after a wayward drive at the seventh before quitting one shot later.
The world number one was two over for the day and two under for the tournament when he withdrew. He shook hands with compatriot and playing partner Jason Bohn before leaving the course on a golf cart, continually flexing his right hand.
"I've been playing with a bad neck for quite a while," Woods told reporters in the locker room, at one point throwing one of his golf shoes to the floor in frustration. "I've been playing through it. I can't play through it any more.
"I'm having a hard time with the pain. There's tingling down my fingers, on the right side. They want me to go get a picture on it (the neck) next week.
"I might have a bulging disk," added Woods, who missed the cut for only the sixth time as a professional at last week's Quail Hollow Championship.
The 14-times major champion said he had first experienced the pain before last month's U.S. Masters where he returned to the game after a self-imposed break of five months and tied for fourth in the year's opening major.
ALL DOWNHILL
"It's on the backswing, downswing, follow through," Woods added, referring to the pain. "Setting up over the ball is fine, but once I start making the motion, it's downhill from there."
Woods, a distant 10 strokes off the lead at the start of the final round, had recorded a three-putt bogey at the third and also dropped at the par-four fifth after hitting his tee shot into water.
Wearing his trademark Sunday red shirt, he was in potential trouble at the par-four seventh where his drive ended up on pine straw well right of the fairway and he immediately called over an official.
After hitting his second shot short of the green, Woods grimaced and decided to withdraw.
"I was a little surprised when he came up to me and said he was done," Bohn told reporters after carding an eight-over-par 80. "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."
It was the first time Woods had pulled out of a tournament during a round since he injured his wrist as an amateur competing in the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
He had not withdrawn from a PGA Tour event since the 2006 Nissan Open at Riviera where he narrowly made the cut but quit before the third round because of flu.
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