Is Tiger On A Hogan-In-'53 Schedule, Or Is It Something More?

He did warn us he would be playing a lot less. We just didn’t know his schedule would look like Hogan’s in 1953.

Tiger Woods’ decision to skip the 2020 Players after looking seemingly healthy the last we saw him, suggests there is reason to be concerned about his back, writes ESPN.com’s Bob Harig.

Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, offered nothing more than a text that read: "Back just not ready. Not concerning long term, just not ready.''

Given the chance to ask -- a simple question: How could this not be concerning?

Is there more to it than just a stiff back? Is another part of the back compromised? Could it be some other injury not being disclosed -- like the knee troubles that plagued him last year that nobody had a clue about until Woods announced he had surgery?

Given Notah Begay’s comments earlier this week about a 2019 “ripple effect”, Daniel Rapoport’s conclusion makes sense even though Woods swung the club beautifully at January’s Farmers Insurance Open.

Perhaps Woods' hectic end of 2019 is still taking a toll. After winning the Zozo Championship in Japan to tie Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA Tour victories, Woods finished T-4 at the Hero World Challenge, then made a 26-hour trip to Australia for the Presidents Cup, where he went 3-0-0 as a player-captain of the winning American side. He said after that trip that he would put the clubs away for a while to rest.

In a pre-Masters conference call, Woods had said his upcoming tournament decisions would be “weather dependent.” The Players forecast calls for sunny, mid-70s days.