Tiger Woods will play 2014 PGA Championship, but he can’t win

Noted golf enthusiast Tiger Woods has arrived at Valhalla and officially registered for the 2014 PGA Championship. After Sunday’s withdrawal at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Woods struggled just to hobble off the course, laboring to take his shoes off and leaning awkwardly against his courtesy car during a brief interview before bolting Akron. Given the apparent pain Woods was in, it looked like his season was over and that playing the year’s final major just four days later would be impossible.

It didn’t look good, but there was no confirmation that the injury was a re-aggravation of the injury that required microdiscectomy surgery and put Tiger out for three-plus months earlier this year. There was some thought that it it was just a one-off muscle pull and that he might give it a go at the PGA, and then probably pack it up for the year. He must win this week to make the FedExCup playoffs and continue his season, and he’s not in ideal standing to be a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup. Woods may not contend, but there was an outside chance he showed up thinking it was his last tournament of the year and could always withdraw if the injury made playing too difficult.

Now Tiger has arrived in Louisville, playing a practice round with Steve Stricker at 2 p.m. ET. The practice round will likely only go nine holes as Woods tests out his back just 18 hours before he’s due for his first-round tee time with Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington. As the week wore on, and Tiger did not officially withdraw, speculation built that he would parachute into Louisville right before the tournament and try to play. He may be officially entered, but completing 36 or 72 holes now becomes the focus after seeing him in such severe pain only a few days ago.

The latest injury occurred on the second hole on Sunday at Firestone. Standing over an awkward lie at the top of a bunker, Tiger said he “jarred” his back after popping his ball up and out of the rough and falling backwards into the sand trap.

There was no immediate or apparent sign that Tiger had aggravated his back, but he proceeded to hit an array of hideous shots throughout his front nine. He left approach shots in the water, hit par-3 tee shots 65 yards short of the green, and sprayed drives all over Akron. Then on the ninth tee, we got the first real sign of visible pain, when he slumped over after hitting his tee shot.

In the spate of injuries to Tiger since his last major championship in 2008, the back issues are the most serious and threatening to the rest of his career. It was at last year’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill that we saw the first signs of Tiger being bothered by his back, as he pulled up a few times during his final round. Then at the Barclays a couple weeks later, he said his back was giving him trouble due to a “soft hotel mattress.” During the final round of that FedExCup opener, Woods collapsed to the ground in pain.

Despite that apparent pain, he would still finish his round and earn a second-place result. He’d also play the remaining three FedExCup events without much incident. But at the Presidents Cup in October, again on Sunday, he was seen stretching out his back and hunched over his golf bag.

Following an offseason spent resting and bulking up, the back trouble reappeared in just his second PGA Tour start this year. His Sunday WD at the Honda Classic came out of nowhere. Woods started the round hitting several wild tee shots, and would walk off early on the back nine. Despite that WD, Tiger played at Doral just four days later and put himself in contention with 18 holes to play. In the final round, however, he’d aggravate the balky back during an awkward punch shot from the edge of the bunker. It was a similar setup to last Sunday at Firestone.

Tiger finished that round at Doral, but struggled just to bend and make a putting stroke and even relied on Hunter Mahan’s caddie to pick his ball up out of the hole at one point. He withdrew from Bay Hill two weeks later, and then announced he had surgery on March 31 and would miss the first Masters of his career.

Woods was on the verge of missing three of the year’s four major championships for the first time in his career, his underwhelming non-competitive showing at the British Open being his only major start of 2014. Most of the golf world was shocked to see him return so soon for his own event at the end of June. Tiger admitted he probably wouldn’t have played the event if it didn’t benefit his own foundation, and that the target had been a return at the Open. In addition to questioning whether he came back too soon, the scrutiny on his swing, and coach Sean Foley, has also heightened again with another back injury. He’s yet to win a major since Foley came on board, and while he’s shortened his swing up a bit, it’s reasonable to question whether this redesign has played a part in these back troubles. Can he put a motion together that puts less stress on the back?

Before his knee injury at the 2008 U.S. Open, his last major win, Tiger had never missed a major as a professional, playing in 46 straight. He has missed six of the last 25 majors with injuries all over his body, and now we’ll shift to “WD watch” during his practice round and every time he tees it up this week.

Tiger may be registered, but he’s really not a threat to win, the back troubles hastening a stunning turnaround from his five-win 2013 season. Woods has been wild off the tee, loose with his irons, and shaky up around and on the green. His health has lot to do with his underwhelming, ugly and mostly incomplete season. But even if he were 100-percent healthy for the PGA, he’d not be one of the contenders. That might sound controversial, especially since he won the last time this event was at Valhalla, but he’s had so few competitive reps this year, and when has played, his game has been a mess.

Back at Doral in March, Woods said this back trouble was different from all his other prior health issues, calling it “no joke” that was having a much greater affect on his ability to play golf than his serious knee injuries. The back is now his biggest challenge in the sunset arc of his career, where he’s not just struggling to regain hope of chasing down Nicklaus’ record, but just to stay healthy and compete in tournaments. He’s registered to play, but staying healthy seems like an uncertain proposition and competing for the title doesn’t seem realistic.