Tiger Woods fights back tears as golf legend forced to withdraw from Genesis Invitational

TIGER WOODS fought back tears after being forced to withdraw from the Genesis Invitational on Friday.

The golf legend was filmed looking distraught on the back of a buggy as he was driven away from the green.

Tiger Woods fought back tears as he was forced to quit a golf tournament

AP

Woods left the green after falling ill on his return to PGA Tour action[/caption]

According to the PGA Tour’s official X account, Woods pulled out of the tournament after becoming ill.

The American could be seen with his head in his hands as he zoomed back to the club house.

And it capped a miserable return to PGA Tour action after he withdrew from The Masters last year.

Woods was one over par from six holes on Day Two, and two over for the whole tournament, when his exit occurred.

He had been struggling to impress on Day One after hitting a shank shot.

Woods admitted after he had been struggling with back spasms.

And fans first feared his withdrawal today was related to his recurring back and ankle problems.

One said: “Disappointing but very good news that it’s illness rather than injury, he’ll be back.”

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Another declared: “At least it wasn’t because of the back spasms. He’ll be back next month hopefully.”

One noted: “Great news that it’s an illness and not back spasms.”

Another added: “Very disappointing. We will be back.”

Reflecting on his shank shot on Thursday, Woods laughed: “Oh, definitely, I shanked it.

“Well, my back was spasming the last couple holes and it was locking up. I came down and it didn’t move, and I presented [the] hosel first and shanked it.”

On his first day performance, Woods added: “It was one or the other. I don’t know how many pars I had, wasn’t many. I was either making birdies or bogeys and just never really got anything consistent going today.

“I struggled with the speed of the greens. I couldn’t believe how fast they were today even though I made a couple. I ran a bunch by the hole today, it was very stressful.

“But the golf course is in such perfect shape. Considering the amount of rain they’ve gotten, to get the golf course this fast is pretty impressive.”