Tiger Woods suffers torrid start to Masters third round

CNN  — 

Tiger Woods will not resume his third round at Augusta National Sunday after the five-time Masters champion withdrew from the tournament because of injury.

A post on The Masters’ Twitter account read: “Due to injury, @TigerWoods has officially withdrawn from the Masters Tournament after completing seven holes of his third round.”

The golf great had endured a torrid start to his third round and the sound of the klaxon, which brought the third day of The Masters to an early end Saturday, may have been music to his ears.

On a cold and damp Saturday, with the rain pummeling down, Woods could be seen limping as he went about what looked like the painful and exhausting task of making his way around the hilly Augusta course.

When organizers deemed that the persistent rain made the course unplayable, Woods was nine-over for the tournament and six-over for the round.

Before the severe leg injuries suffered in a 2021 car crash, Woods had undergone multiple surgeries on his back. He displayed his usual grit and resilience to carry on on Saturday even though hopes of winning a sixth green jacket had long since faded.

Starting on the 10th hole, as organizers tried to get as much of the play completed as possible after the second round was suspended on Friday because of bad weather, Woods began with a bogey.

Neither the conditions nor his form improved much after that. Another bogey on the 14th and double bogeys on the 15th and 16th left the 47-year-old bottom of the leaderboard with the worst score of the day.

The five-time Masters champion had had little time to enjoy making the cut at Augusta for a record-equaling 23rd consecutive time, starting his third round a few hours after completing the second round.

The third round will resume Sunday at 8:30 a.m ET, with the final round expected to start at 12:30 p.m. ET, The Masters said in a statement.

Tournament leader Brooks Koepka was one of just 11 golfers to shoot under par before the end of play, the four-time major winner extending his lead over second-placed John Rahm to four shots.