Tiger Woods out of Arnold Palmer Invitational

Tiger Woods: "I wanted to be at Bay Hill to help honor Arnold."

10 Mar 2017

Tiger Woods out of Arnold Palmer Invitational

Tiger Woods admits he is "disappointed" to miss out on playing in next week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill through injury, especially as it's the first playing of the tournament since Palmer's death.

Woods announced on his website on Thursday that he will not take part in the tournament at a venue he has won a record eight times.

In the blog post, Woods noted his disappointment in missing the tributes to the late Arnold Palmer at this year's event.

I'm especially disappointed because I wanted to be at Bay Hill to help honor Arnold. This is one event I didn't want to skip. Arnold has meant so much to me and my family; I thought of him as a close friend, and Sam and Charlie were both born in the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. He will be greatly missed and can never truly be replaced.

Earlier this week, PGA Tour veteran Steve Stricker, also a close friend of Woods, said he did not think Woods was "doing that well right now physically."

Following a lengthy 18-month absence from the game, Woods finished 15th in a 17-player field at the Hero World Challenge in December, before missing the cut in his next start at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. He then withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic after one round due to back spasms.

The wait to see if Woods will be fit enough to make the Masters in April continues.