Tiger Woods Cancelled His Genesis Open Press Conference, What Now?

Tiger Woods’ return to the PGA Tour appears to have taken a discouraging turn for the worse. Woods, who withdrew from the Genesis Open and Honda Classic after suffering from back spasms during the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, was scheduled to appear during press conferences on Wednesday at the Genesis but cancelled late Tuesday night.

Via Geoff Shackelford:

"After receiving daily treatment the last several days on his ongoing back spasms, Tiger Woods has again been advised by doctors to limit all activities and will not hold a press conference Wednesday. It will not be rescheduled."

It is somewhat understandable for Woods to pull out of the event after his doctors suggested it, but for him to not be able to even make an appearance and sit in a chair for 30-45 minutes and answer what undoubtedly would be questions regarding his health is a bad sign.

Clearly the “back spasms” that Woods is suffering from are worse than we’re being led to believe.

After the Hero World Challenge Woods’ return to PGA Tour level golf looked quite promising. Sure he finished 15th in a field that included only 17 players after Justin Rose withdrew and sure there was no cut, but he finished four-under, played all four rounds and even carded a 65 during the second round. That led most to believe that Tiger would be able to make some sort of a comeback over the next couple of months on the PGA Tour. He then missed the cut at Torrey Pines and withdrew prior to the second round of the Dubai Desert Classic and now that return doesn’t look so promising.

Woods has admitted that he will never be 100% healthy, which is understandable considering the number of times he’s gone under the knife, but he’s held on to the belief that he can not only play on the PGA Tour but win again.

Woods only has a couple more tournaments that he could use as warm-ups heading into the Masters in April, with the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill being the main event. If he is unable to go in any of the events on the schedule that he could possibly enter ahead of the Masters, what reason is there to believe he can make a return at all?

The Genesis Open benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and his company TGR Ventures is running the event. This is also the 25-year anniversary of his first appearance at a PGA Tour event. For him to not be at the event is quite depressing.

So is this actually the end of Tiger Woods?

I’ve held on to the belief that he could make a return after taking over a year off from the sport, but now, well now it’s not easy to believe that he can make a cut and as much as I personally want to see him out there competing with these young guys on Tour who grew up idolizing him I definitely don’t want to see him fall apart and go out an extremely sour note.

We owe Woods a chance for what he has done for the sport, but that chance is slipping away.