Tiger Woods expects to play Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill

Tiger Woods, in obvious pain as he scored a personal Doral-worst 78 during Sunday’s WGC-Cadillac Championship finale, expects to put his aching back in play next week in a title defense at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Woods, who has eight wins at Arnie’s Bay Hill, will surprise many by returning to the field so soon after back spasms caused him to wince and grab his back several times during his final round at the revamped Trump National Doral. He said the soreness in his back, which forced him to withdraw from the final round of the Honda Classic a week earlier, flared after he took an awkward stance to hit a shot from a bunker on the sixth hole in Miami.

Despite Woods’ evident relief to be done with Sunday’s arduous stretch of golf in only his fourth worldwide tournament of the year, the 14-time major champion is intent on getting fit enough to contend at the Masters in a month. The ongoing regimen Tiger has been receiving for a nagging condition must be working, according to his agent, Mark Steinberg.

“Tiger is continuing to get treatment and get himself in a good place for next week,” Steinberg told Bob Harig in an email on Tuesday. “He intends to be at Bay Hill.”

Woods said on his website Sunday that he had undergone an MRI and other “protocols” on his back, which he claimed stiffened up on him after sleeping on a soft mattress ahead of The Barclays in August. He has declined to elucidate further on the cause of his affliction.

Things got progressively worse for the five-time 2013 winner as his back went into spasms, dropping him to his knees during the final round at Liberty National, and bothered him throughout the remaining FedExCup playoff games.

The litany of Woods’ recent struggles -- after a Player of the Year season in 2013 -- to start the year are by now legion. After a six-week break between losing to Zach Johnson in a playoff at the unofficial World Challenge, he kicked off his 2014 at Torrey Pines, another venue he had owned to the tune of eight victories.

This time around, in January, Woods missed his first-ever 54-hole cut after matching his second-worst score ever, a 79, in the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open. He followed that up with a T41 in Dubai and went on roller-coaster rides at both PGA National and Doral, where he posted the low rounds of the week (65 at the Honda, 66 at the Cadillac) but scuffled on succeeding Sundays with back pain and soaring scores (WD after 13 holes and that 78, respectively).

Though the Tiger Watch was on after Woods nailed two spectators with wild shots early and began grimacing as Sunday’s final round at Doral wore on, he was able to tough it out to the end. After going birdie-less for only the eighth time as a professional and complaining again about lingering back discomfort, Woods said he planned to be back on the tee at Arnie’s Place.

“It will be nice to take this week off and get ready,” Woods said.