Tiger Woods ‘disappointed’ to skip 2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill

Tiger Woods, to no one’s surprise, joined a slew of high-profile players skipping next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Woods, sidelined since early February, announced on Thursday that he was “disappointed” to miss the first tournament at Bay Hill since Palmer died in September.

”Unfortunately, due to ongoing rest and rehabilitation on my back, I won’t be able to play in this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational,” Woods said on his website. “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.”

Woods is not the only big name to take a pass on the tourney. Among those not making the trip to Bay Hill will be world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, and many other top golfers. Justin Thomas tweeted in his regrets.

Billy Horschel, who, had he qualified, said he would have ditched last week’s WGC-Mexico Championship because of security concerns, was not amused by the plethora of no-shows at Bay Hill.

Third-ranked Rory McIlroy, whom Palmer jokingly threatened with a broken arm if he missed the event four years ago, will be there, as will defending champ Jason Day (assuming he’s healthy).

As for Woods, his most recent appearance at Arnie’s tournament, in the midst of a five-win, Player of the Year 2013 season, resulted in the last of his eight victories on the Orlando track. The win vaulted him back to the top of the official world golf rankings.

This time around, it appears the 79-tour winner won’t be vaulting anything any time soon. Woods’ good friend Steve Stricker was the bearer of bad news on Tuesday from the Valspar Championship, where this year’s Presidents Cup captain announced Jim Furyk would join Woods, Davis Love III, and Fred Couples as assistant skippers for the fall contest. Stricker and Woods have texted each other and the forecast, four weeks before the Masters, is not a sunny one.

“He’s working hard at it, but I don’t think he’s doing that well right now physically,” Stricker told GolfChannel.com.

Stricker offered similar observations after watching on television as Woods struggled around the Emirates Golf Club,

“It looks like he’s hurting a little,” Stricker told GolfDigest.com from the Waste Management Phoenix Open. “He’s still walking around gingerly, walking very upright, real slow and methodical.

“It doesn’t seem like he has a lot of fire, and that’s what kind of bothers me,” Stricker added. “Maybe he’s still hurting a little.”

Following Woods’ WD in Dubai, he also scrapped plans to play at the Genesis Open and Honda Classic, and ditched a press conference scheduled and rescheduled at Riviera. Stricker recognized early on in Woods’ round in the Middle East that there was a problem

“Just the way he was walking didn’t quite look right. He was walking really gingerly,” Stricker said. “It didn’t really look physically like he was ready to play.”

Woods, on the DL for 15 months after his third back surgery, returned at the Hero World Challenge in December. He finished 15th in the 18-player field and in late January came back only to miss the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open. He then flew to Dubai for the second of a slated four tilts in five weeks.

While it’s anybody’s guess as to if/when Woods will make another comeback, Stricker believes it could be some time before Tiger tees off again in competition. That could put his start at the Masters, 20 years after his historic 1997 win, in serious jeopardy.

“Obviously he has to get his body right first before he can compete,” Stricker said. “Then it’s going to take some time I think for him to come back believing in his swing and trusting in his ability again.”

As has been all-too familiar in the ongoing saga of Woods’ recent health issues, there is no telling what the future holds for the 41-year-old fading superstar.

“Presently,” Woods said, “I have no timetable for my return to golf, but my treatments are continuing and going well.”