Tiger Woods’ bad back has forced him to pull out of his friend Notah Begay III’s golf tournament that benefits health and wellness programs for Native American youth.
Tiger Woods’ back injury forces withdrawal from FedExCup warm-up charity golf tournament
Tiger Woods won’t risk further injury to his back by playing in a philanthropic golf event before the second leg of the FedExCup playoff tourney.
Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
Woods, whose back pain flared up during Sunday’s final round of The Barclays, expects to play in this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship, which starts on Friday. He will, however, cede his spot in Wednesday’s sixth annual Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge to Gary Woodland, who shared second place with Woods and two others at The Barclays, last week’s kickoff to the four-game FedExCup playoff series.
“While we’re disappointed Tiger is unable to play in this year’s event, the important thing for Tiger is to make sure he’s 100 percent healthy and not risk further injuring himself,” Begay said in a statement Monday night. “We appreciate his unwavering support of our mission and look forward to having him with us here at Turning Stone in the future.”
Woods expressed his regrets to Begay, the Oneida Indian Nation, sponsors, and fans.
“Improving health and wellness in Native American children is an important and meaningful cause, and I want to commend Notah for his hard work and diligence,” Woods said, in the NB3 release. “I’m certain it will be a very successful event.”
Woodland will replace Woods on Team USA in the three-team, 12-player, best-ball contest at Turning Stone Resort Casino’s Atunyote Golf Club in Verona, N.Y., slated to start August 28 at 9:15 a.m. ET.
At the Deutsche Bank, the second playoff event, Woods is grouped with Adam Scott, the winner at The Barclays, and Phil Mickelson for the first two rounds. The top three golfers in the world and FedExCup points rankings will tee off at 8:40 a.m. on Friday from the 10th tee at TPC Boston and 1:10 p.m. from No. 1 on Saturday.
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