Tiger Woods withdraws on the 12th hole of Farmers Insurance

SAN DIEGO -- Tiger Woods withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open while playing his 12th hole of his round after his back gave him trouble.

"It tightened up during the suspensions and it never loosened back up again," said Woods, alluding to fog delays before the round began. "It just got progressively tighter.

" … It's frustrating that it started shutting down like that. I was ready to go. I had a good warm up session."

Woods said the pain started while he was standing on the putting green waiting out the fog.

"Then I got cold standing out there and everything started deactivating again. It's frustrating that I just can't stay active. That's just the way it is.

"We usually don't have to wait like this back home practicing. You can keep going and going. My glutes are shutting off and they don't activate."

Last year Woods withdrew from two tournaments with back pain, the Honda Classic in March and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational in August. The next week he missed the cut at the PGA Championship.

Seeming a bit uncomfortable the entire round, Woods was taken by golf cart into the clubhouse without finishing the 12th hole. His last hole was a double-bogey on No. 2, the 11th hole of the day for him.

Woods got off to a late start due to the fog and this was Woods' first competitive round since shooting 82 in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open last Friday and missing the cut.

Woods, who has won 79 PGA Tour titles and 14 majors has been struggling with injuries the past few years and is in the process of changing his swing. Once one of the best short game players, Woods has seen his chipping prowess disappear and become a liability in his game.

The mentally sturdy Woods has admitted that the chipping woes has gotten into his head.

"When I have to hit shots, I've got to shape shots, I'm caught right dead in between," said Woods on Wednesday. "They are so polar opposites, the movement patterns, that when I do half of one or half of the other, it's pretty bad. It certainly is a process...It's tough. I want to get this. I want to be ready come Augusta and the rest of the majors, but we still got some work to do."

He did chip in on No. 11 (he second hole of the day) Thursday to give himself some earlier confidence. But he was up and down during the round. After a birdie on No. 1, he followed with a double-bogey on No. 2.