Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the US PGA Tour's Northern Trust event in New Jersey, citing "a mild oblique strain."
The 15-time major winner shot a four-over-par 75 on Friday (NZ time) before withdrawing from the tournament the following day.
"Due to a mild oblique strain that led to pain and stiffness, I have to withdraw from the Northern Trust," Woods said in a statement.
"I went for treatment early Friday morning, but unfortunately I'm still unable to compete ... I remain hopeful I can compete next week at the BMW Championship."
Leading into the Northern Trust, an ailing Woods' had only playedfour tournaments since winning the Masters in April for his 15th major title.
He missed the cut in two of those events - the US PGA Championship and the British Open.
The Northern Trust is the first of three FedEx Cup playoff events and cuts the top 125 players on the points standings to 70 who advance to next week's BMW Championship.
Woods is currently 28th on the FedEx standings and is already guaranteed to context the event at Chicago's Medinah Country Club, where Woods won the 2006 US PGA Championship.
However, he is projected to drop to 35 and will face an uphill battle at the BMW to climb into the top 30 on the standings who qualify for the Tour Championship, which Woods won last year.
The Northern Trust is Woods' first withdrawal from a tournament worldwide since he pulled out before the second round of the 2017 Dubai Desert Classic due to back spasms.
That was two months before Woods had risky spinal fusion surgery which forced him to take the remainder of 2017 off while recovering.
It was the last of four surgeries Woods has had on his back.
This week is also the first time Woods has withdrawn from a US PGA Tour event since the 2015 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
But it is the second time this year injuries have prevented Woods from playing, with the 43-year-old pulling out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March - although that was several days before the tournament and not an official withdrawal.
AAP
