Spasms force Tiger Woods to withdraw from Dubai Desert Classic

American golf star Tiger Woods today withdrew from the Omega Dubai Desert Classic owing to back spasms, raising fresh questions on his comeback bid.
Woods returned to competitive golf last December after a 17-month lay-off due to two surgeries and rehab and played four full rounds at the Hero World Challenge.
But that has also been the last he played four rounds in a tournament. He missed cut at Torrey Pines and withdrew after one round in Dubai.
He did seem to be walking gingerly at times and was careful while lining his putts. There were times when he seemed to be in pain.

'Spasms' and not nerve pain, which kept him out for long, was given as the reason by Mark Steinberg, his long-time manager.
Ironically, Woods on Thursday, said, "No, I wasn't in pain at all. I was just trying to hit shots and I wasn't doing a very good job."

Woods' opening 77 was also his worst and the only time he had no birdies.
While Woods himself did not come to the course, his manager, Steinberg met the media and explained the situation that Woods was unable to make a "full rotation on the swing".
Steinberg said he suffered spasms last night and this morning he worked on it, but it had not subsided, at which point he apparently decided to withdraw and not risk his back anymore.

Steinberg said, "(He) felt okay coming off the golf course, yesterday. So, it wasn't pain. I didn't see him at dinner last night but said he was okay. And (then) went into a spasm in his lower back, fairly late night after dinner."
"Tried to work it out last night. Didn't really get it worked out. Had treatment starting pretty early this morning, for probably past three to three and a half hours."
"He (Tiger) says it's not the nerve pain that's kept him out for so long. He says it's a back spasm and he just can't get the spasm to calm down. So that's where we are. Feels terrible. Talked to Matthew and Danny, feels awful, and he feels terrible for the tournament."

Asked if Woods could move around, Steinberg replied, "Oh, yeah, he can move around. He can't make a full rotation on the swing."
Has it been happening before last few months? Steinberg answered, "Yeah, I mean, I think spasms are a funny thing. I'm certainly no doctor but they come and go. And again, the fact that he feels as though it's not the nerve pain, that's very encouraging for him.
"Yeah, he's had some spasms before. No doubt about it. "He's got to get the spasm to calm down from what I gather. He has his trainer here, which is good, and that's who has been working on him for the past several hours.

"So yeah, he'll get it to calm down, and yeah, hoping that -- forget about the long term; the short-term prognosis, he hopes he'll be strong; based on the fact that it's not that nerve pain I just alluded to.