"Tiger Woods raises old questions with new neck injury"

Steve DiMeglio sees an unfortunate run-up to Augusta for Tiger Woods after a Tweeted WD from the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Now, instead of dialing in his swing and rhythm, Woods will be receiving treatment and trying to get ready for The Players. Without his tune-up at Bay Hill, Woods has only four events to play before the Masters – The Players, the Valspar Championship, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, and the Valero Texas Open.

Woods has never played the week before the Masters, so Valero is likely out. He also rarely plays three events in succession, so, if he does play The Players, one of the other two would be out.

That’s not the schedule Woods was eying earlier this year in his runup to the Masters. In his mind, there was certain beat he wanted to follow. But a neck strain has sent him off key.

I would say it’s obviously not ideal, but Woods looked physically uncomfortable in Mexico City and in LA, appeared to be someone who is very confident in his ability to turn it on when he needs to. People will hate to hear this, but he’s about four weeks a year at this point in his life and the slightest physical annoyance will sideline him if it’s not one of those four weeks.

Ben Hogan got that way late in his career and no one had a problem with it. Tiger has different responsibilities but ultimately, the thing that draws people to him is his ability to peak at major championships. His time is limited to maximize his chances and he knows it.