Tiger Woods withdraws from Farmers Insurance Open with back injury

Tiger Woods made it through 47 holes in his 2015 comeback tour before withdrawing from the Farmers Insurance Open on Thursday, just 11 and a half holes into his opening round with what appeared to be pain in his surgically repaired back.

Woods, who carded a career-worst 82 and a tie for last place when he missed the cut at last week’s Phoenix Open, has said he was healthy, which is more than one could say for his short game. Woods started out on at Torrey Pines -- where he’s won eight times in his professional career -- with a shaggy bogey on the North Course’s par-4 10th hole following a short-sided chip shot that ran 20 feet past the pin.

When his tee shot on No. 11 landed in very thick rough near a cart path, it was clear his game from tee to green was off-kilter.

The Twitter world sarcastically proclaimed “Tiger’s back” after the former world No. 1 chipped in for par on No. 2, but he was clearly uncomfortable when he bent over to pluck his ball from the cup.

“His back’s bad, guys. His back is bad,” Golf Channel analyst Nick Faldo announced in a sing-song voice.

“This is why he can’t get through, his sacrum,” Dr. Nick, who said he spoke from experience, explained. “If your sacrum is tight, you cannot get out of your way. So that’s probably what it’s all about right now. ... If your sacrum’s not moving you cannot twist your hips. ... If you can’t do that, this game is, in short, impossible.”

Woods, who was walking gingerly, wincing, and grabbing at his back the way he did before last year’s microdiscectomy, was scuffling along with Billy Horschel and Rickie Fowler in a fog-delayed opening round. His poor play may have been contagious, as Horschel, who offered Tiger some short-game tips on Wednesday, was 1-over when Woods quit; Fowler, after a bogey on his second hole, had four birdies on his card and was 3-under.

Woods, with Horschel picking up his tees for him since it pained him to bend down, made a par at the par-5 18th that was a microcosm of everything wrong with his wedges.

After losing yet another in a series of tee shots way right, he dug a fairway metal out of real nasty rough. The shot, which had to tweak his obviously balky back, found the green but left Woods with a decision to make -- get it close by using a sand wedge to chip it over the fringe jutting into the putting surface, or try to knock a putt high enough to avoid a sharp right turn and a long birdie attempt.

Woods eschewed the short iron, watched his ball drift away from the hole, and then two-putted for par -- to the shock of absolutely no one familiar with Tiger’s wedge woes.

Another flown green with a short pitch shot from heavy rough resulted in an ugly double-bogey 6. With that double, Woods’ record of never making a bogey in 14 career rounds on the North Course remained intact.

When he withdrew after hitting his tee shot on the par-3 third hole, Woods was 2-over for the day. But at that green, he told caddie Joe LaCava to pick up his ball marker and he was in a golf cart and off to the parking lot.