Woods withdraws; sand storm stops play

DUBAI — Tiger Woods withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic before Friday's second round because of a back problem, the latest blow as he struggles to regain the form and fitness that made him a golf great.
 The 41-year-old American is on the comeback trail after a 16-month layoff following back surgery but suffered a back spasm overnight, forcing the 14-time major winner out of the tournament.
 His manager Mark Steinberg told reporters in Dubai that it was not the nerve issue that kept Woods sidelined for so long.
 Former number one Woods said after laboring to a first-round five-over-par 77 Thursday that he was pain-free.
 "He felt okay coming off the golf course yesterday so he wasn't in pain. I didn't see him at dinner, but he said he was okay," said Steinberg.
 "He then went into a spasm in his lower back fairly late last night after dinner.
 "He tried to work it out last night. Didn't really get it worked out. Had treatment starting pretty early this morning, for probably the past three, three-and-a-half hours, and he can't get the spasm to settle."
 Steinberg added that Woods — now languishing at 666 in the world — "feels terrible for the tournament".
 "He can move around, but he can't make a full rotation on the swing," he said.
 Woods was scheduled to take a week off after Dubai and then play two successive weeks on the PGA Tour, at the Genesis Open and Honda Classic.
 "He's had some spasms before but 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," Steinberg said.
 "So he'll get it to calm down and 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."
 Woods also saw his long-awaited PGA Tour comeback come to an abrupt end at the Farmers Insurance Open last week as he tumbled out of the tournament after missing the cut.

The Dubai showpiece suffered a second setback when, hours after Woods pulled out, high winds caused play to be suspended for the day.
 Winds gusting over 36 miles (58km) per hour hauled down trees at Emirates golf Club and blew large amounts of sand and moved balls on the green.
 The European Tour called off play at 2:25 p.m. (1025 GMT).
 When the siren sounded South Africa's George Coetzee was in the middle of an unbelievable round given the conditions — he was three-under for the day through eight holes to top the leaderboard at nine-under par.
 Spain's Sergio Garcia, the overnight leader, was one-under for the day after five holes to take his total to eight-under par.
 Play will restart Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and organizers are still hopeful of completing 72 holes by Sunday evening. Kuchar leads by one A refreshed Matt Kuchar seized a one-shot lead in the opening round of the Phoenix Open in Arizona Thursday but had the ominous figure of reigning champion Hideki Matsuyama in hot pursuit.
 Kuchar, a seven-time winner on the PGA Tour, took advantage of ideal scoring conditions at the TPC Scottsdale to fire a seven-under-par 64 that included birdies on his first two holes and an eagle at the par-five 13th where he drained a 20-footer.
 He narrowly missed a birdie at the last, his attempt from 10 feet sliding past the left edge, to finish one ahead of fellow American Brendan Steele and world No. 5 Matsuyama, the game’s hottest player over the past four months.
 Sixth-ranked American Jordan Spieth opened with a 70 while three-time former winner Phil Mickelson, a popular figure at Scottsdale after attending the nearby Arizona State University, carded a 68.
 Kuchar has not competed since winning the unofficial Franklin Templeton Shootout with partner Harris English in early December. Matsuyama has recorded four wins and two runner-up spots in his last eight starts worldwide and once again put himself into contention as he racked up six birdies, including four in his first nine holes. — Agencies