Tiger Woods withdraws from Dubai Desert Classic with bad back

Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the Omega Dubai Desert Classic ahead of his second round at Emirates Golf Club.

The 41-year-old American, who was playing in his second comeback tournament, has pulled out because of a "bad back".

In Thursday's opening round, Woods carded a five-over-par 77 which did not include a single birdie and left him outside the top 120.

The 14-time major winner arrived in the Middle East having missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego last week, where he was competing in his first official PGA Tour event for 17 months.

During the past couple of years, the former world No 1 has been sidelined with back pain and has undergone a series of operations.

He has also suffered from serious leg injuries and his plan to contest four tournaments in five weeks may now have to be curtailed.

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Every Sunday night, the Sports Illustrated Golf Group conducts an e-mail round table with writers from Sports Illustrated, GOLF and GOLF.com (with the occasional special guest). Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com.

1. His chipping prowess aside, Tiger Woods had an uninspiring performance at Torrey Pines, shooting 76-72 and missing the cut by four shots. Now he's headed overseas for the Dubai Desert Classic. What constitutes a good week?

Josh Sens, contributing writer, This is the question that keeps cropping up through swing changes and surgeries and assorted other struggles. The one constant, of course, is that we're talking about Tiger Woods. By the standards he set for himself — never mind the expectations of the multitudes — a good week is a win. Just hoping to make the weekend without an injury doesn't cut it, for him or his fans. In the meantime, though, hitting a few more fairways wouldn't hurt.

Shane Bacon, golf analyst, Fox Sports (@shanebacon): Tiger is so far from contending with his current game that I say making the cut is a great week for Woods. Tiger can say he shows up to win, but that golf swing and two-way miss isn't winning anything right now. Get to the weekend, play in tournament conditions for four days and reassess, but a made cut is a win right now for Tiger Woods. 

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