To be honest, Tiger’s withdrawal is no surprise, however, the comments in his post round interview left me thinking that he overplayed the injury and simply quit because he was hacking so badly. Mark O’Meara reported that he had played pre-tournament practice rounds with Tiger and Tiger’s knee seemed fine. Frankly, I’m mystified as to how he could warm up before the round without issue and seriously re-injure himself on his first tee shot. Is Tiger’s will to compete the same as it was when playing on a broken leg in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines where the injury seemed more serious than this one, or is it dependent on the quality of the shots he’s hitting?
Clearly Tiger is playing on an old 35 year body and his mental state is not even close to his former self. You can lock up Nicklaus’ record for majors and throw away the key!
All About Golf 
On Golf Talk Live before The Players started, Johnny Miller had a comment about the state of Tiger’s game. He observed that on the driving range Tiger was making a fairly level turn and hitting the ball great. He also noted that when Tiger was on the course his swing went back to the “drop down and drive up” that was probably the cause of his knee and leg problems. Tiger is an old thirty five, lots of wear and tear. If he would just throttle back and hit every fairway with that little “stinger” of his he could concentrate on playing precision golf rather than power golf.
So Tiger cannot take his game from the range to the course because he’s getting too mechanical and trying to be too perfect. When he’s on the course, he’s under pressure and reverting to old habits. The two do not mix and now the very foundation where every golfer gets their power from (the legs) is breaking down! He’s in serious trouble.