Facing marathon, Woods withdraws from Masters

Five-time winner Tiger Woods, who limped through the start of a rain-halted third round of the Masters, pulled out of the tournament with a fitness issue, organizers said on Sunday.

“Due to injury, Tiger Woods has officially withdrawn from the Masters after completing seven holes of his third round,” a statement from Augusta National said.

The tournament is aiming to finish the rain-impacted third round on Sunday morning before proceeding to the decisive final round at Augusta National.

Woods is still recovering from severe leg injuries suffered in a 2021 car crash. He made his return at last year’s Masters, where he shared 47th and spoke of walking 72 holes on the hilly layout as a victory of sorts.

For Woods, who has talked about playing in pain and who operates a minimal tournament schedule, the weather enforced changes meant he would have attempted to play 29 holes on Sunday in order to finish.

Woods had battled to make the cut on Saturday morning, playing in cold and wet conditions and limping at times. He eventually made it into the final two rounds after the cut-line rose to three-over par 147.

By making the cut, Woods matched the Masters record of Fred Couples and Gary Player with 23 consecutive made cuts.

But Woods, who hasn’t missed a Masters cut since 1996 when he was playing as an amateur, made a dreadful start to his third round.

Starting on the 10th hole, Woods made two bogeys before double bogeys on the par-5 15th and par-3 16th left him bottom of the leaderboard on nine over overall.

Woods had shared 45th at his PGA event at Riviera in February in his most recent prior start.