<p>It is the second successive year that the former world number one has pulled out of the tournament -- he withdrew from the final round last year due to a neck injury. The 14-time major winner came into the Players, known as the ‘fifth major’, after suffering knee and Achilles tendon injuries and said he had hurt himself on the first tee shot. <br /><br />“The knee acted up and then the Achilles followed after that and then the calf started cramping up. Everything started getting tight, so it’s just a whole chain reaction,” he told reporters. “This morning, it felt fine during warm-up and then as I played it got progressively worse,” said Woods. After bogeying the first hole, he found water twice at the par-four fourth where he ended with a triple bogey. <br /><br />Further bogeys came on the fifth and ninth holes for Woods, who walked slowly and deliberately on the final holes before quitting. <br /><br />He missed last week’s tournament at Quail Hollow due to injury and on Tuesday played his first nine holes of golf since last month’s Masters. <br /><br />Woods conceded he might have been wiser to withdraw earlier rather than battle to the turn but said he had been given the go-ahead to play at TPC Sawgrass from his doctors.</p>
<p>It is the second successive year that the former world number one has pulled out of the tournament -- he withdrew from the final round last year due to a neck injury. The 14-time major winner came into the Players, known as the ‘fifth major’, after suffering knee and Achilles tendon injuries and said he had hurt himself on the first tee shot. <br /><br />“The knee acted up and then the Achilles followed after that and then the calf started cramping up. Everything started getting tight, so it’s just a whole chain reaction,” he told reporters. “This morning, it felt fine during warm-up and then as I played it got progressively worse,” said Woods. After bogeying the first hole, he found water twice at the par-four fourth where he ended with a triple bogey. <br /><br />Further bogeys came on the fifth and ninth holes for Woods, who walked slowly and deliberately on the final holes before quitting. <br /><br />He missed last week’s tournament at Quail Hollow due to injury and on Tuesday played his first nine holes of golf since last month’s Masters. <br /><br />Woods conceded he might have been wiser to withdraw earlier rather than battle to the turn but said he had been given the go-ahead to play at TPC Sawgrass from his doctors.</p>