Tiger Woods Explains Decision To Withdraw From Masters After Video Showed Significant Pain

Tiger Woods will not complete his 25th appearance at The Masters. The 47-year-old announced his withdrawal on Sunday morning ahead of the continuation of the third round.

Woods, who tied the record for most consecutive cuts made at 23 on Saturday, needed help from Justin Thomas down the stretch. In the end, it was the former who was inside the cutline as the latter didn't make it to the third round.

Unfortunately, neither will compete for a title.

It was The Masters that first broke the news of Woods' decision not to continue.

Not long thereafter, Woods issued a statement and pinned the reason for his withdrawal on his plantar fasciitis.

The plantar fasciitis is in his right foot, the same leg that suffered substantial trauma in a near-death car accident in February of 2021, and makes it difficult to walk. He withdrew from the Hero World Challenge last November for the same reason.

Plantar fasciitis is often related to stiffness in the joints in the foot and ankle. It is also frequently connected to weakness of muscles in the hip, foot and ankle.


That stiffness or weakness leads to biomechanical forces being improperly translated from the foot up the body, so there’s more load on the plantar fascia.

Woods' struggle was evident on Saturday. He dropped six shots during the first seven holes of Round Three in cold, driving rain before play was suspended, after finishing Round Two in similar conditions earlier in the morning.

Tiger Woods was hurting.

It was clear that Woods was in significant pain as he tried to navigate a very wet course. Augusta National is already very difficult to walk, let alone in terrible conditions.

Woods will not be back on the course on Sunday. His caddie, Joe LaCava, said earlier in the week that Woods is "pretty banged up" and that if it wasn't The Masters, he likely wouldn't have played.

However, LaCava also added that Woods would be in contention if he could use a cart. Woods, though, has made it abundantly clear that he will never use a cart on the PGA Tour or during events in which they are not sanctioned.


No. I wouldn't, no. No. Absolutely not. Not for a PGA Tour event, no. That's just not who I am. That's not how I've always been, and if I can't play at that level, I can't play at that level.

Woods later doubled down and explained his reasoning.


My teammate (at Stanford) was Casey Martin, and what he did with the ADA, I voted against it. I think is an integral part of the game at our level, and I will never take a golf cart until it's sanctioned.

Without a cart, a wet Augusta National course was too much for Woods this year.