Injured Tiger Woods Withdraws From Masters

Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the Masters due to injury after completing seven holes of his third round, tournament organisers said on Sunday.

Woods, who was the last of 54 players to make the cut, was limping down the 17th fairway on six over par through seven holes when play was called off on Saturday due to bad weather.

The 47-year-old American has won the Masters five times, most recently in 2019, but he has struggled since a car crash in 2021 in which he sustained multiple leg injuries that required major surgery.

At Augusta, he squeaked inside the cut line to tie Gary Player and Fred Couples for most consecutive times playing the weekend at the Masters (23).

But in unforgiving conditions on a cold Saturday with heavy rain falling, Woods was visibly limping and made back-to-back double bogeys.

The 15-times major champion has made only one competitive appearance this season and said this week that he does not play many tournaments anymore as he is “limited” in what he can do.

Meanwhile, Jon Rahm pulled within two strokes of leader Brooks Koepka as the third round of the Masters resumed Sunday at rain-softened, cold Augusta National.

Rahm began the morning by sinking a nine-foot birdie putt at the par-4 seventh hole while Koepka curled an 11-foot par putt beyond the hole, his first stumble after 29 holes in a row without a bogey.

Koepka kept at the top on 12-under with Rahm charging to 10-under, trimming half his overnight deficit.

A marathon last-day drama was poised to unfold under the towering Georgia pines with Koepka chasing his fifth major title, third-ranked Rahm seeking his second and both hunting a first green jacket.

An additional sub-plot to the final day duel is that Koepka plays on the Saudi-backed upstart series LIV Golf while Spaniard Rahm has stayed loyal to the PGA Tour.

Heavy rain forced a suspension of play Saturday, water puddling on the famed undulating greens, with Koepka setting the pace on 13-under and Rahm four adrift after bogeys at the par-3 fourth and par-4 fifth holes.

Koepka and Rahm appeared set for a head-to-head duel over 30 holes, with their nearest rival being US Amateur champion Sam Bennett in third on 6-under. No one else was within eight strokes of the overnight lead.

With clear but sometimes windy conditions expected, the third round was set to finish in the morning and twosomes planned off split tees in the afternoon final round with plans to complete the year’s first major tournament before sundown.

Koepka, a winner of last week’s Orlando LIV event, seeks his first major title since the 2019 PGA Championship and a Masters triumph would leave him only a British Open Claret Jug shy of completing the career Grand Slam.

Breakaway LIV Golf lured several big names from the PGA Tour last year with record $25 million purses from 54-hole events, sparking the PGA to ban LIV players from its events. The PGA-LIV fight is set for a court date early next year.