Tiger Woods will miss the Masters for 2nd straight year

The good news for Tiger Woods: he was well enough to appear upright on Good Morning America and at a New York City bookstore to sign copies of his new tome chronicling his historic 1997 Masters win. The bad news: his balky back will keep him from playing Augusta in April for the second consecutive year.

Woods announced on Friday night what most golf watchers expected since he withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic in February and subsequently skipped three events, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Tiger said he was not “tournament ready” in the announcement on his own website just after 7:30 p.m. ET — the usual late Friday announcement we’ve grown accustomed to when there’s drama about whether he’ll play a tournament. He also offered no timetable for his return.

News of Woods’ latest no-show was hardly a stunner, even after he said, during the book-promotion stop, that he might buck all odds and actually make it to Augusta for more than the Champions Dinner the Tuesday night before the tourney.

“I do have a chance” to play, Woods told USA Today Sports on the Monday after Bay Hill. “I’m trying everything I possibly can to get to that point. I’m working, I’m working on my game. I just need to get to a point where I feel like I’m good enough, and I’m healthy enough to do it.”

Woods said that after playing in so many Masters during his 20-year career, he knew what he had to do to prepare for the competition.

“Now it’s my job to go out there and get ready,” said Woods, who noted he had been practicing but, two weeks prior to Masters kickoff, had yet to play a round of golf during his most recent injury-related layoff. “I hope I can.”

Woods offered his remarks after several days of speculation concerning his immediate future. Citing multiple sources, Brian Wacker reported during Arnie’s event that the author of that 12-shot 1997 Masters victory was unable to play or practice since back spasms forced his Dubai WD.

Those sources opined that Woods “didn’t look good,” and that a start at the Masters seemedunlikely.

NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico, during Sunday’s final round at Bay Hill, added to the mystery of what Tiger was up to with under three weeks to go until the Masters. He said Woods was involved in some “limited golf activity,” that there was a “legitimate” chance he would start the tournament, and that the possibility of his competing was “not exactly a no just yet” — which did not clarify anything about Tiger’s plans.

Before Tirico weighed in, Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, unloaded on Wacker, whose sources pretty much agreed with Tiger’s old friend Steve Stricker’s views (“It didn’t really look physically like he was ready to play” in Dubai). Steinberg took serious issue with such conclusions.

“I have no idea who Mr. Wacker’s really close sources are. I can tell you this, nobody spoke to him; so how he could know something that Tiger and I don’t know is comical,” Steinberg said in a statement to GolfChannel.com. “I talked to Tiger four hours ago on the phone. We’re not in a situation to even talk about playing in the Masters now. He’s gotten treatments and is progressing and hoping he can do it. There’s not been a decision one way or the other. I couldn’t give you a fair assessment, but to say it’s doubtful is an absolutely inaccurate statement.”

In rebutting Wacker’s assertions, Steinberg — who declined to offer insight about Tiger’s current status or prognosis — seemed to support speculation that a Woods start at Augusta was doubtful.

“I don’t want to talk about specifics yet. When we’re ready to get into that, we’ll disclose it,” Steinberg said. “He’s working hard at getting better, he’s working hard at progressing.”

Which sounded eerily similar to a tweet Tiger posted a little more than a year ago, several months before he returned from a 15-month layoff, following multiple back surgeries, to the Hero World Challenge and finished 15th in the 17-player field.

Woods’ next effort resulted in scores of 76-72 and a missed cut at Torrey Pines in late January, after which he flew to the Middle East and carded a first-round 77 in Dubai. He quit the tourney the next day and skipped his next two slated starts, the Genesis Open and Honda Classic, and was apparently in too much pain to conduct his twice-scheduled press conference at Riviera.

Though not surprising, Woods’ third absence since 2014 from the men’s first major of the season is certainly a disappointment for fans of the game. Who wouldn’t want to watch, one more time, a healthy Tiger competing against the world’s best young players, many of whom grew up idolizing the former world No. 1?

In his most recent Masters start in 2015 (and the way things are shaping up, possibly his last), Woods shared seventh place with Sergio Garcia. The 14-time major champion has four Masters victories.