Woods says no connection between neck injury and crash

Tiger Woods said today there is "absolutely zero connection" between the sore neck he suffered in a car crash in his driveway in November and the neck injury that forced him to withdraw from the Players Championship on Sunday.

"My neck started bothering me when I started practicing a lot and started to ramp up," Woods said today during a press conference to promote the AT&T National at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square.

Asked at the Masters what injuries he suffered during the Nov. 27 crash, Woods said, "I had a busted-up lip and a pretty sore neck, and that was it."

Woods said his current neck injury started "bugging" him 2 weeks before the Masters.

"It was just on and off," he said. "I thought it was just sore. As I kept playing and practicing, it never got better. It just got worse. Now I'm at the point where I just can't go anymore."

Woods is the defending champion of the AT&T event, set for July 1 to 4. The tournament is in the Philadelphia area for the next 2 years after spending the last 3 years at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

"If I'm playing, I will play here," Woods said. "A lot is up in the air, which I don't like. I still need to go home and get a picture (an MRI). I want to come back and defend at Memorial, play the U.S. Open and play here ... I will have a lot more answers after I get home and get the picture."

Asked about his withdrawal from the Players, Woods said, "It was because the pain was so much. I can play through pain, but once it locked up, I couldn't move back or through, I couldn't turn coming through. It was a frustrating end.

"For me not to play all 18 holes, that was as angry and frustrated as I have been in a long time. It is sore. I haven't had any treatment except for right after the round."

The Players was only his third tournament back from a 5-month hiatus after his extramarital affairs became public. Woods tied for fourth at the Masters, then missed the cut at Quail Hollow with the second-highest round (79) and the highest 36-hole score (153) of his PGA Tour career.

Asked today about changes to his swing, Woods joked, "Don't hit left, don't hit right. I'd like to change that. I'd like to make more putts and shoot lower scores.

More seriously, he said, "I talked to [swing coach Hank Haney] about some of the stuff. We're still working on it. We have a lot of work to do. I can't make the movements that I made before because of the neck. I need to get healthy to play the proper way."

Between injuries and his personal issues, Woods said it has been "really frustrating."

"I know what I'm capable of doing - hitting shots and I just can't do it right now. I need to get healed up so I can start working and spending the time it takes to get better. I haven't been able to do that. I have only been able to work in spurts ... I'm getting old, dude."

Asked how long it has been since he felt 100 percent, he joked that it was a Christmas tournament when he was 11.

"It's been a while. My knees have been bugging me for over a decade," he said. "I got that fixed, then it's my achilles and then this ... I got accustomed to not feeling good."

Woods said he has taking anti-inflammatories, going to the trainers' trailer at events to get it worked on, undergone massage therapy and traction. He said that was all it took to relieve the pain but the pain returned "faster and faster." He said this will be his first MRI on the neck.

"I'm doing everything I can, but it's not getting better," Woods said. It's going the other way."

If he is unable to regain his once dominant form, Woods was asked how he would view this period both professionally and personally.

"I've dealt with the other things in my life where people said I was pretty much done and come back," he said. "The whole idea is to keep fighting every day. That's all I can do at this point."

Asked about Aronimink, Woods said, "This golf course is hard. It will be quite a test ... All the players will thoroughly enjoy it. It's going to be a lot of fun."