Tiger Woods, last seen doing a very realistic impression of a terrible chipper, will take a break from tournament golf, he announced on his website. Woods withdrew from last week's Farmers Insurance Open with a back injury, but says it is unrelated to the surgery he had last March to relieve a pinched nerve. Either way, he says that he needs to work on his game before playing publicly again:


Right now, I need a lot of work on my game, and to still spend time with the people that are important to me. My play, and scores, are not acceptable for tournament golf. Like I've said, I enter a tournament to compete at the highest level, and when I think I'm ready, I'll be back. Next week I will practice at Medalist and at home getting ready for the rest of the year. I am committed to getting back to the pinnacle of my game. I'd like to play The Honda Classic — it's a tournament in my hometown and it's important to me — but I won't be there unless my game is tournament-ready. That's not fair to anyone. I do, however, expect to be playing again very soon.


The Honda Classic will take place in Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.) starting Thursday, Feb. 26, so if all goes according to plan Woods will be competing again in just over two weeks. Woods hasn't won a major in almost seven years, but as recently as 2013 he won five tournaments and finished in the top ten in two majors.

[TigerWoods.com]

Photo via Donald Miralle/Getty