Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the Dubai Desert Classic with a “bad back”, bringing a premature halt to his return to golf after just three tournaments following a dismal opening round on Thursday.

The former world No 1 pulled out of the competition before the start of his second round, and despite playing down injury fears on Thursday after he was seen moving gingerly when exiting a bunker, he withdrew from the competition with what the European Tour tdescribed as a "bad back", later confirmed by his agent to be back spasms..

Having undergone three operations on his back in 19 months, the news raises serious concerns over his fitness and whether he can sustain a full return to gold.

41-year-old Woods insisted after the opening round that there were no concerns about his fitness, and that he simply didn’t play well, with the 14-time major winner failing to card a single birdie in his five-over 77.

"No, I wasn't in pain at all," Woods said yesterday. "I was just trying to hit shots and I wasn't doing a very good job. At the end I finally hit some good ones but the damage had already been done.”

However, a short statement released on the European Tour’s official website confirmed his departure from the competition.

The statement read: “Tiger Woods was forced to withdraw from the Omega Dubai Desert Classic before his second round on Friday due to a bad back.”

The round of 77 proved to be Woods worst score around the Emirates Golf Club by two shots, and left him 12 shots behind overnight leader Sergio Garcia.

But after a short period of speculation, Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, confirmed that the injury was not as bad as was being made out and it was simply a case of back spasms that struck him some hours after he had completed his round.

"He can't get the spasm to calm down," Steinberg told reporters in Dubai. "He can move around, he just can't make a full rotation on the swing."

Woods said on Wednesday that his latest swing has been designed to "play away" from the nerve pain caused by a back injury which required three operations in the space of 19 months.

"Spasms are a funny thing," Steinberg added. "I'm certainly no doctor but they come and go. The fact that he feels though it's not the nerve pain, that's very encouraging for him.

"He's got to get the spasm to calm down. He has his trainer here which is good. That's who has been working on him for the past several hours.

"He'll get it to calm down and, forget about the long term, the short-term prognosis he thinks hopefully will be strong based on the fact that it's not that nerve pain."

Woods was off the mark from the tee, the fairway and on the green (Getty)

Steinberg said Woods had not been in pain during or after his opening round, but admitted the long flight from California to Dubai could have been a factor.

"I'm sure there are so many different factors that could play into it," he added. "He doesn't have the strongest back in the world, so it's probably easier to spasm because of the issues he's had.

"But he wanted to be here. He wants to be here and just feels terrible he can't finish it out today."