PEBBLE BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods said Wednesday his game is “not acceptable” to compete in tournaments and he will return when he thinks it is.

Hopeful of having injuries behind him, Woods made a horrific start to the new year. He shot a career-high 82 in the second round of the Phoenix Open to miss the cut by 12 shots. And then he withdrew after 11 holes of ordinary golf at Torrey Pines because of tightness in his back from a fog delay.

Woods said on his website the last two weeks have been disappointing, especially at Torrey Pines, where he is an eight-time winner. He said he never wants to withdraw, but recent injuries have allowed that to happen too often.

Woods said his latest injury was not related to the back surgery he had last spring, and that he is feeling better every day with physical therapy.

“Right now, I need a lot of work on my game, and to still spend time with the people that are important to me,” Woods said. “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.”

Woods is not playing Pebble Beach or Riviera, and said he would practice next week at his home and at The Medalist “getting ready for the rest of the year.”

He said he wants to play the Honda Classic, which starts Feb. 26, but he won’t be there unless his game is tournament ready.

“That’s not fair to anyone,” Woods said. “I do, however, expect to be playing again very soon.”

Ernie Els, who has known Woods longer than any other active PGA Tour player, heard about his woes while playing in Dubai and later saw highlights.

“As competitive as we are, we don’t want to see anyone suffer like that,” said Els, who has finished second to Woods more than any other player. “We’ve got to do our stuff in public. I don’t care if you’re Tiger Woods, Ernie Els or whoever. If you have some error in your game, you get exposed.”

Woods, the winner of 79 PGA Tour events and 14 majors, has never looked this bad on the golf course. He had back surgery to relieve a pinched nerve a week before the Masters and missed three months (including the first two majors), and then he took four months off at the end of last year to regain strength and get his back fully healed.

He also hired a new swing consultant and embarked on the fifth swing change of his career.

His chipping was shockingly bad at the 18-man Hero World Challenge at Isleworth in December, when he tied for last. His chipping looked even worse at the Phoenix Open, a collection of shots that he either flubbed short or bladed across the green.

Woods is at No. 62 in the world, his worst ranking since before he won his first PGA Tour event in 1996. He is not eligible for the World Golf Championship at Doral.

“I am committed to getting back to the pinnacle of my game,” Wood said.

SAN FRANCISCO – Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley had his golf clubs and some Ryder Cup mementos stolen in a smash-and-grab not long after arriving for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that McGinley went from the airport to Ocean Beach to get some fresh air and have lunch. When he returned to his SUV outside the restaurant, he was startled to see the back window shattered.

McGinley says his golf clubs and travel bag, a carry-on bag, travel documents and his passport were taken. He says the thief also took Ryder Cup items he had set aside for a charity auction. Europe’s winning Ryder Cup captain was testing new equipment on Tuesday.

McGinley says he was disappointed but that it can happen in any country or city.

SAN DIEGO – The BBC called on Thanksgiving weekend in 2009 looking for insight on the shocking, sordid details about the private life of Tiger Woods and how this would affect his pursuit of golf’s most meaningful record.

The line of questions made one thing clear. They didn’t need a golf writer, they needed a psychologist.

Five years later, has anything changed?

Ignore for a moment the bunker shot that Woods blasted into the bleachers on the 16th hole during the pro-am at the Phoenix Open. Or the 82 he posted in the second round at the TPC Scottsdale, the worst score of his career. The record will show he has more WDs than top 10s in the last 18 months.

But this might be the most sobering thought.

Is it possible that perhaps his greatest strength – his mind – is now his weakness?

The look on the practice range is one of uncertainty. On the golf course, it is one of resignation. Woods has never appeared more fragile. And he has never been the subject of so much sympathy from peers he used to beat so badly that Charles Howell III once said only half-jokingly that he “ruined a lot of guys’ lives.”

There was some truth to a throwaway line from Woods at his Hero World Challenge in December that “Father Time is undefeated.” He is 39 with five surgeries and one public embarrassment behind him. Adding to accelerating years is that he has been in pursuit of greatness from the time he crawled out of a high chair.

Accepting his rapidly advancing age is another story.

A decade ago in the parking lot at Doral, when Woods finally adapted to a swing change under Hank Haney and was on his way to two majors that year, he said he would walk away from the game sooner than anyone imagined, that he would quit when his best was no longer good enough to win.

“I’ve won tournaments out here when I wasn’t playing my best,” Woods said that day. “If I play my best and don’t win, there’s no reason to be out here. I don’t lie. When I play well, I tell you guys. When I haven’t played well, I’ll tell you.”

At this stage in his career, his best isn’t good enough to beat Rory McIlroy and maybe a few others.

Woods has never been forthcoming with the press or the public. The question is how honest he is with himself. For now he can fall back on injuries as the cause of his poor play, although the message gets muddled based on his recent comments about his back.

“It feels great. It feels fantastic,” he said in December.

“That’s not an issue anymore,” he said last week in Phoenix.

And then he pulled out after 11 holes at Torrey Pines for what he described as tightness in his lower back. If only he had described it that way. Woods doesn’t like to be perceived as a golfer. He wants to be perceived as an athlete, and it shows in his speech.

He warmed up fine on Thursday morning. The fog rolled in, the temperature dropped and his back never loosened up again after standing around. That happens. Instead, he said that “everything started deactivating again” and it was frustrating that he couldn’t stay “activated.” Thankfully, he cleared that up by mentioning it was his “glutes” that didn’t activate.

For the next two days, “glute activation” became a buzz word on the putting green and practice range. Woods became the butt of jokes.

No one wants to see this.

Most disturbing is how easily it has become to withdraw. In his brief interview among a circus atmosphere in the parking lot, no one asked if Woods risked further injury by completing the last six holes (and presumably two putts). Could he not have gutted out the first round and tried to activate his glutes Friday morning? Notah Begay said over the weekend on Golf Channel that a text from Woods indicated it was not a “major concern.”

One major concern is motivation and, yes, desire.

That would be unlike the Woods of yesteryear – no one would ever dare question his desire – but it’s reality. This is his 20th year on tour. He’s gone to the top of the mountain four times. This would be the toughest climb of them all. He is a single father of two whose schedule is determined by the weeks when he gets the kids. He has been hurt on the golf course and humbled off it.

And he has chipping problems so severe that the dirtiest four-letter word in golf has been evoked – yips.

The Masters starts in 59 days. Woods is supposed to play the Honda Classic in two weeks, and there are questions whether he should even show up. Woods doesn’t need competition. He needs a clear head and a strong mind.

Right now, the only thing clear about Woods is that he faces a murky future.

SAN DIEGO – Jason Day was playing to win and figured he lost.

His chip from gnarly rough behind the 18th green at Torrey Pines came out hot, rolled out fast and tumbled off the front of the green toward the water. After a week of visualizing his hands on the trophy, his thoughts quickly changed to a more dire scenario.

“OK, where do I need to drop?” he said.

The cheers told him otherwise. The ball stopped at the yellow hazard line a few feet from the water. Day saved par from there, got into a four-man playoff and won the Farmers Insurance Open on Sunday with a par on the second extra hole.

“When you win golf tournaments, you have to have a little bit of luck,” Day said. “And that was my luck.”

There was plenty of skill to go with it.

Day made two big birdies and a par save from a plugged lie in the bunker during a tough stretch on the back nine and closed with a 2-under 70. He played a smart shot on the par-5 18th in the playoff and made birdie with a superb pitch. And he outlasted J.B. Holmes on the par-3 16th with a 5-iron to 15 feet after Holmes drilled his 6-iron over the green and made bogey.

Harris English, who birdied the 18th hole for a 72, and defending champion Scott Stallings (69) also were in the playoff. They were eliminated on the first extra hole.

It was a big win for Day, who was more determined than ever not to let injuries get in the way of his lifelong goal of No. 1 in the world. For now, he’ll have to settle for No. 1 in Australia. The third PGA Tour victory of his career moved him to No. 4, just ahead of Adam Scott, still miles behind Rory McIlroy. But it’s a start, and equally important to winning is staying in good health.

After winning the Match Play Championship a year ago to rise to No. 4 in the world, he played only the Masters in the next three months because of a thumb injury.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Day said. “I’ve been working so hard for this. I was visualizing myself holding the trophy, just like I did at the Match Play. I’m really proud of myself to hang in there and grind it out.”

Day said he no longer wants to be satisfied finishing second, and it showed. Tied for the lead, he took a chance in regulation by going for the 18th green in two. He pulled a 3-wood to clear the water, but over the green in U.S. Open-type rough is no bargain, and it nearly cost him.

Holmes played it safe with no regrets.

In the final group and tied for the lead, he had 235 yards to the pin and chose to lay up with an 8-iron. He was surprised when his wedge didn’t spin back toward the bowl at the front of the green, and his 20-foot birdie putt for the win grazed the cup. He closed with a 72.

A little shorter or longer in the fairway and he said he would have gone for it. But the ball was on a slightly downhill lie.

“It was a lie that my tendency is to hit it a little bit further and hit a draw, and long and left is dead,” Holmes said. “If you hit something over the green there, it’s not really an easy up-and-down. It’s not really the best access to the pin. The best play is to lay up and hit a wedge. I had the same thing again, I would lay up.”

English and Stallings were eliminated on the first extra hole. Stallings had to lay up from the left rough, and his 15-foot birdie putt turned away. English drove well to the right, but his short iron back to the fairway was too strong and settled on the border of the first cut and 4-inch grass. He couldn’t get any spin on the ball, and was left with a 60-foot birdie putt from the back of the green to stay alive. It stopped a few inches short.

Equally important for Day were the holes leading up to the 18th. He made one of only four birdies at the 15th, and he holed a 50-foot putt on the 16th for one of only five birdies in the final round. From a plugged lie in a bunker at the 17th, he got up-and-down.

Day was among seven players who had at least a share of the lead on a Sunday that was more about survival than a shootout. It was the first time that a single-digit score under par – 9-under 279 – won on the PGA Tour since Justin Rose (4-under 276) at Congressional last summer.

Charles Howell III (68) and Alex Prugh (71) each missed birdie chances on the 18th and finished a shot out of the playoff.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. was the top Canadian, finishing tied for 32nd at 1-under 287.

SAN DIEGO – Billy Casper, one of the most prolific winners on the PGA Tour who was overshadowed at the height of his career by the “Big Three,” died of a heart attack Saturday at his home in Utah. He was 83.

Bob Casper said his father died quickly and peacefully with wife Shirley at his bedside. They had been married 62 years.

Casper passed out in the clubhouse at the Masters last year, had work on his heart and recovered from a bout of pneumonia over Thanksgiving that kept him hospitalized for a month. His son said Casper was going to cardio rehab for the last four months and was doing well until he started to feel badly in the last week.

In any other era, Casper might have commanded more attention than he did.

“I think it is fair to say that Billy was probably underrated by those who didn’t play against him,” Jack Nicklaus said Saturday night. “Those who did compete against him knew how special he was.”

Casper won 51 times on the PGA Tour, putting him at No. 7 on the career list behind only Sam Snead, Tiger Woods, Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Byron Nelson. His three major championships include the 1966 U.S. Open, one of golf’s most remarkable comebacks. He rallied from a seven-shot deficit on the back nine at Olympic Club to tie Palmer, and beat him in an 18-hole playoff.

Casper also won the 1967 Canadian Open, 1959 U.S. Open at Winged Foot and the 1970 Masters. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978.

He was overshadowed by the “Big Three” – Palmer, Nicklaus and Gary Player, whose rivalry sparked a revival in golf in that era. Part of that was the marketing of Mark McCormack at IMG. Casper originally signed with IMG and then left.

But he kept winning.

From 1962 through 1970, Casper and Nicklaus won 33 times on the PGA Tour, while Palmer won 30 times. According to Golf Digest, Casper’s winning rate of 9.2 percent trails only Nicklaus (12 percent) and Woods (26 percent) of all golfers who started after 1950.

Casper was a genius with the short game, considered one of the best putters in golf. When he won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, he purposely laid up on the par-3 third hole all four rounds and got up-and-down for par each day.

“Billy was a fantastic player, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for being one,” Nicklaus said Saturday night. “I have said many times that during my career, when I looked up at a leaderboard, I wasn’t just looking to see where a Palmer or a Player or a (Lee) Trevino was. I was also checking to see where Billy Casper was. Billy had tremendous confidence. He just believed in himself.

“You knew when you played against Billy Casper, Billy would not beat himself.”

Casper won his first PGA Tour event in the 1956 LaBatt Open over Jimmy Demaret, and Casper won at least once each season for 16 straight years, a streak only surpassed by Nicklaus and Palmer at 17.

More than golf, Casper was devoted to family. He had 11 children, six of them adopted, and he is survived by 71 grandchildren and great grandchildren. He became a Mormon just as his career was taking off.

“More important than what Billy Casper gave us inside the ropes, he has been so selfless outside them,” Nicklaus said. “He has always been so steadfast and committed to his family, his religion, his community, and his unwavering beliefs. And he never asked for anything in return. It was not even a year ago, someone asked Billy how he wanted to remembered, and he said, `I want to be remembered for how I loved my fellow man.’

“We lost a true friend tonight.”

In 1992, Casper founded the Billy Casper Youth Foundation and for more than 20 years hosted an annual charity event in San Diego that raised more than $3 million for children.

Casper was born June 24, 1931, in San Diego and began to caddie at San Diego Country Club. He was among the first of the great lineage of golfers in San Diego that included Gene Littler and Mickey Wright.

“Gene was so much better than me. I never beat him as a teenager,” Casper told Golf Digest in a 2012 interview. “But I had a lot of inner confidence. I had such a tie with my eyes and my hands. I could look at a telephone pole 40 yards away, take out a 7-iron and hit it 10 times in a row. I had something special. And somehow, I really understood the game, all without having a lot of guidance.”

Casper won the PGA Tour money title twice and was player of the year in 1966 and 1970. He won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average five times and still holds the American record in the Ryder Cup for most points. He played on eight teams and was the winning captain in 1969.

SAN DIEGO –  J.B. Holmes birdied all but one of the par 5s at Torrey Pines and escaped with bogey on his one big miss Saturday, giving him a 4-under 68 to join Harris English at the top of a crowded leaderboard in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Given this is the South Course at Torrey Pines, Sunday might be more about survival than shootout.

“This is a U.S. Open golf course,” English said. “And you’ve got to treat it like that.”

English led by as many as three shots early in the third round until his streak of 39 holes at par or better ended with a double bogey on No. 4. He lost the lead again late in his round with a poor chip on the 16th and had to settle for a 1-over 73.

They were at 9-under 207 with a host of contenders behind them. Of the 12 players separated by only two shots going into the final round, all but three have won on the PGA Tour and two them – Jimmy Walker and Bill Haas – have won in the last month.

In the previous four events this year, two in Hawaii and two in the desert, a score like 73 would be enough to send someone out of contention. The South Course at Torrey Pines, host of the 2008 U.S. Open, is different with its length and its thick rough. Jhonattan Vegas, two shots behind, hit one tee shot on the 14th hole that missed the fairway by a few feet and he had to stoop over just to see his golf ball.

“It’s a battle out there,” English said. “I had a tough stretch on 4 … I had a tough go on 16. But you’ve got to grind.”

The 68 by Holmes, Carlos Ortiz and defending champion Scott Stallings, who was three shots behind, was the low score in the third round.

“Guys are getting bunched,” Walker said. “You’ve got par 5s that are tough, and a lot of them are unreachable.”

Walker did his part. Standing in the 18th fairway, 261 yards from the hole and a slight breeze in his face, he decided at the last minute to go up one club with a 3-wood, choked up slightly and hit a cut. It wound up about 12 feet by the hole, and his eagle putt to share the lead touched the right side of the cup. He tapped in for a 70.

Holmes is on the A-list of power players, and while his length helped, his short game led to birdies. He got up-and-down from a bunker on No. 6, reached the greenside bunker in two shots on the 603-yard 13th hole and had to lay up on the 18th after driving into the rough. He holed a 12-footer for birdie.

He was tied for the lead until pulling his tee shot into a hazard left of the 17th fairway, and then putting the next shot into a bunker. But he got up-and-down to escape with bogey and had a share of the lead when English made his late bogey.

“This golf course is a big, ball-striking course,” Holmes said. “So you’ve got to hit it in the fairway, you’ve got to hit some good shots and give yourself a chance for some birdies. … The rough, it probably plays worse than it did at the U.S. Open when they had it here in 2008.”

Lucas Glover, emerging from a tough stretch of poor putting, had a 70 and will be in the final group with Holmes and English, a close friend.

No shot was more memorable for Chad Campbell than his hole-in-one on the picturesque third hole with a pitching wedge. He played well the other 17 holes for a 70 and is in the hunt for his first victory in more than seven years.

Others at 8-under 208 were Spencer Levin (70) and Nick Watney, who made all pars on the back nine for a 72.

Day, at No. 8 in the world the only player from the top 10 to make cut, holed out on the 17th for eagle to salvage a mediocre day and shot 71. He was only two shots behind.

Leading the Canadian charge is Adam Hadwin. The Abbotsford, B.C. native is 4-under. Roger Sloan of Merrit, B.C. has a share of 62nd at 1-over.

English, a two-time winner on tour, figured anything under par on Sunday might be good enough to win. Or maybe not. He later said anyone within five shots of the lead could not be counted out in the final round at Torrey Pines. If that’s the case, 31 players are still in the picture.

SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods is gone from Torrey Pines, and Phil Mickelson joined him Friday by missing the cut.

In a tournament that quickly lost a big chunk of its star power, Harris English played another bogey-free round for a 6-under 66 on the North Course to build a two-shot lead Friday in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Mickelson, who worked hard to get into shape in the offseason and was as optimistic as ever, was done in by his short game. The best he could managed was a 72 on the North Course, and he missed the cut by two shots. It was the first time since 2002 that Mickelson missed the cut in back-to-back weeks on the PGA Tour.

Woods withdrew after 11 holes Thursday, citing tightness in his lower back. For the first time, Woods and Mickelson failed to make the cut in the same tournament in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour.

“My putting is beyond pathetic,” Mickelson said. “And if I can’t get back to the levels of 2013, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Because this is very frustrating.”

Mickelson is not playing the last two weeks of the West Coast Swing because his kids are on spring break.

He was in good company leaving early.

Justin Rose, at No. 5 the highest-ranked player at Torrey Pines, also shot 70 on the North and missed the cut. So did Hideki Matsuyama, who three-putted for par on the closing hole on the South Course to miss by one shot; Jordan Spieth, who needed an eagle on the 18th on the South to make the cut and hit it in the water; and Dustin Johnson, playing for the first time since a six-month break to get professional help for “personal challenges.”

“The last two days, I think normally I probably would be at least 5 or 6 under right now instead of even par,” Johnson said. “But I’m happy with where it’s at. Just a little rusty, that’s all.”

Mike Wier shot 74-74 and failed to advance to the weekend.

Even those who are still around had a tough time, particularly Phoenix Open winner Brooks Koepka.

He reached the par-5 18th in two on the South Course and a two-putt birdie would have put him three shots out of the lead. Koepka missed his 6-foot birdie attempt, and then missed a pair of 2 1/2-foot putts and wound up five-putting for double bogey. That gave him a 74 and he was six shots behind.

English was at 10-under 134, two shots ahead of Nick Watney (65), Jhonattan Vegas (69) and Martin Laird, who had another 68. Laird was tied for the lead with two holes to play in Phoenix last week until a bogey-double bogey finish.

Most pleasing to English was a clean card going into the weekend. He was on the ropes early on Thursday he chipped through the green on the par-3 11th hole on the South and was facing certain bogey. But he chipped in for par, and he has only had a few close calls with bogey ever since.

English kept it simple on the North by making three birdies on the par 5s. He two-putted twice, got up-and-down with a simple chip on the ninth hole and was poised to add another birdie on the par-5 18th until his 6-iron went long and into a tough lie. He chipped to 20 feet and two-putted for par.

Even so, it was another solid start to a tournament this year after going through some choppy play in 2014 that eventually led him to change swing coaches. English tied for third in the Sony Open, well behind a runaway by Jimmy Walker.

“When you start struggling, it’s easy to try to find stuff that’s wrong with your game, wrong with your swing,” he said. “I definitely was more swing-oriented than playing golf. That’s not me. That’s not how I grew up playing the game. You’re standing over shots thinking about swing positions instead of trying to see your ball flight and trying to play golf. That’s what I was doing the latter half of the year, it was really frustrating.”

Walker (66), Jason Day (65) and Ian Poulter (71) led a large group at 6-under 138. The cut was at 1-under 143.

Still, nothing summed up the day – the entire week – than when Mickelson finished his round. A stream of fans four-wide stretched for 100 yards on the path toward the exit, dozens of them wearing blue-sleeved shirts that read, “Team Phil.”

Mickelson tied for 24th in his season debut at the Humana Challenge before missing the cut at Phoenix and Torrey Pines. He said he spent so much time on his long game that he didn’t put as much work in on his putting because he didn’t feel he needed it.

That’s no longer the case.

“It was one of the worst putting performances, and the first few weeks really have been the same way,” Mickelson said. “And you simply can’t compete at this level putting like that.”

One player who did get his putter working Friday was Canada’s Adam Hadwin, who has a share of 33rd with fellow Canuck Roger Sloan. Hadwin used his flatstick to sink this lengthy putt for eagle.

SAN DIEGO – New season, same old story with Tiger Woods.

Only it’s no longer a happy tale.

For the third time in his last eight PGA Tour events, Woods got into a cart in the middle of his round and was driven to the parking lot because of back pain. Most troubling about Thursday in the Farmers Insurance Open was he spoke only a week ago of feeling “great” physically, and this was only his second event of the year.

He blamed this one on the weather, which caused his “glutes” to shut off.

Woods walked off the course after 11 holes on the North Course at Torrey Pines, citing tightness in his lower back from standing around for more than an hour in the cool Pacific air during a fog delay in the morning. He never looked comfortable, and Billy Horschel noticed it right away. Woods was reaching for his back at the turn. Horschel tried to help by picking up the tee for Woods on their 10th hole and the ball from the cup when Woods made birdie.

“I was ready to go,” Woods said. “I had a good warmup session the first time around. Then we stood out here and I got cold, and everything started deactivating again. And it’s frustrating that I just can’t stay activated. That’s just kind of the way it is.”

Woods now has gone 12 straight PGA Tour events without a top 10, dating to his runner-up finish in The Barclays in 2013 when back pain dropped him to his knees. This was his first round since a career-high 82 last week in the Phoenix Open to tie for last with a club pro and miss the cut by 12 shots.

“It’s tough to see a guy I look up to, a guy I consider a friend, to have issues with spasms,” Horschel said. “It’s tough to see him go, but he was in quite a bit of pain.”

Nicholas Thompson had an 8-under 64 on the North Course and had a one-shot lead over Michael Thompson when play was suspended by darkness. Brooks Koepka, coming off his victory in the Phoenix Open, had a 66 on the North. The best score on the tougher South Course belonged to Jhonnatan Vegas, who shot 67.

Dustin Johnson, playing for the first time since his six-month leave for “personal challenges,” holed out for eagle on No. 4 on the South Course as his lone highlight. He had five bogeys and was 2 over with one hole remaining.

But this day was all about Woods, which used to be typical at Torrey Pines because he has won the tournament seven times. Thursday was different. Several players came out of the scoring area and said, “What happened to Tiger?”

“It’s just my glutes are shutting off,” Woods said, sound more like a physical therapist than a 14-time major champion. “Then they don’t activate and then, hence, it goes into my lower back. So I tried to activate my glutes as best I could in between, but they never stayed activated.”

It has become a troubling trend for Woods. In his last six tournaments since back surgery last March, he has missed the cut three times, withdrawn twice and finished 69th in the British Open, his lowest 72-hole finish in a major.

“It’s just tough not seeing him have his best, whether it’s with his game or with his health,” said Rickie Fowler, who played in the group with him.

Woods was 2-over par through 11 holes and in a tie for 130th when he withdrew.

He will fall to his worst world ranking since before he won his first PGA Tour event as a 20-year-old in 1996, and he most likely will not qualify for a World Golf Championship for only the second time in his career. Woods is not expected to play again until the Honda Classic in three weeks. Doral is the following week. He did not indicate earlier in the week that he would add tournaments to his schedule ahead of the Masters, which is April 9-12.

The front nine at Torrey Pines was more of the same kind of golf he showed in the Phoenix Open last week, when he missed the cut by 12 shots with a short game that was shocking. On his first hole, the par-4 10th, Woods short-sided himself right of the green and he bladed his chip some 35 feet beyond the hole for a bogey.

He was in trouble again on the next hole, facing the same chip, and this time struck it perfectly. He chipped in to save par.

From there, it was a mixed bag of poor tee shots (he hit only one fairway) and poor iron shots. His tee shot on the par-3 12th wound up on a front tee box at the 13th hole. He missed the green long and right from the 13th fairway.

Woods made a 6-foot birdie on the 16th and he made birdie on the par-5 first hole. The last hole he completed was the most telling.

Horschel and Woods were in the right rough, about 70 yards short of the green. Horschel hit to about 12 feet on the collar of the green behind the hole. Woods went about a yard from a tee box on the next hole, the shot sailing over the heads of the gallery and down a slope. From there, he duffed his flop shot halfway up the hill, hit the next one too hard about 15 feet past the cup and two-putted for double bogey.

Woods won five times in 2013 and was PGA Tour player of the year. He has never looked further from the elite in golf as he does now. Woods took four months off to let his back fully heal and to regain his strength. On Thursday, he headed home early from Torrey Pines to a future as mysterious as fog.

On the Canadian front, Adam Hadwin was even par when play was suspended. Roger Sloan (73) and Mike Weir (74) each managed to complete their opening-rounds.

SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods is at Torrey Pines and the center of attention, just like always.

Just not like this.

Woods was on the practice range Wednesday morning at the Farmers Insurance Open, working with swing consultant Chris Como. Billy Horschel and Pat Perez looked on, not in awe, but as though they wanted to help. The pro-am was delayed two hours because of fog, which was only fitting.

Woods looks lost right now. At the very least, the view is blurred.

And returning to a golf course where he has won eight times, including a third U.S. Open title in 2008, hasn’t raised anyone’s hopes – maybe not even his. It was rare to hear Woods talk so openly about trying to get his game in shape for the Masters, which is still two months away.

“The whole idea is to make sure that I’m ready for Augusta, so I got a lot of rounds to play between now and then,” Woods said.

He is coming off an 82 at the Phoenix Open, the worst score of his career, to miss the cut by 12 shots. In his previous competition at the unofficial Hero World Challenge, he tied for last in the 18-man field. Before that, he missed the cut at the PGA Championship.

Woods used to look unbeatable, especially on a course like Torrey Pines. At the moment, that’s not the case.

“Everyone out here is human,” Rickie Fowler said. “We all understand the struggles out here as far as good golf and bad golf and the ups and downs of the game. That’s just part of the process if you’re working on new stuff or just having a bad day.”

“I hope he turns it around,” Perez said.

Woods was at the peak of his powers in 2008 when a caddie stood behind the 18th green at Torrey Pines to watch him finish up a 67 on the South Course in the opening round. The caddie said, “He just won two tournaments with one round.” Sure enough, Woods won the PGA Tour event by eight shots that week, and then he won the U.S. Open that summer on a left leg that was in shambles.

Even two years ago, Woods destroyed the field at Torrey Pines when he was leading by eight shots on the back nine until play became so slow that he rushed his way in, dropped a few shots and only won by four.

That now seems like a long time ago.

Even though it’s February, Woods might be at a critical juncture when the Farmers Insurance Open gets started Thursday. Another poor performance, especially with his hard-to-watch short game, and the criticism and analysis is only going to increase. Worse yet, his tournaments might decrease.

Woods has plunged to No. 56 in the world and is not eligible for the World Golf Championship at Doral next month. He typically would play the Honda Classic and Doral in consecutive weeks in south Florida, take a week off, play Bay Hill and then have two weeks off before the Masters.

If he doesn’t qualify for Doral, he would have only three tournaments – all of them with 36-hole cuts – before Augusta.

“If I happen to play well enough to get into Doral, then great,” Woods said. “I got four more rounds there. If I don’t, then still trying to peak for Augusta. … But I have to go out and earn my way there (Doral). I’m just going to have to play better than I did last week.”

The road to the Masters has never looked like such an uphill climb.

Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner at Torrey Pines and the longest rival to Woods, isn’t quite ready to write him off.

“I think that Tiger’s going to have the last laugh,” Mickelson said Wednesday. “I think that his short game, historically, is one of the best of all time. I think his golf game is probably the best of all time.”

Mickelson said the short-game woes are understandable because of how little Woods has played. The Phoenix Open was only his second tournament in six months after taking a break to fully heal from back surgery and to regain his strength. During his time off, Woods brought in a new swing consultant.

“I think the short game, when you haven’t played, it’s the first thing to feel uncomfortable and the quickest thing to get back,” Mickelson said. “I don’t think he’s going to have any problems, I really don’t. I think we all – myself included – have had stretches where we feel a little uncomfortable. We don’t hit it solid, and usually it’s just a small tweak, because it’s such a short swing that it’s not a hard thing to fix.

“I just don’t see that lasting more than a week or two.”

Woods starts on the North Course with Horschel and Fowler. The North Course used to be the easier of the two courses. For Woods, nothing has come easily of late.

SAN DIEGO – One player not concerned about Tiger Woods and his golf game is his longtime rival – Phil Mickelson.

Woods is coming off the worst score of his PGA Tour career – 82 – last week in the Phoenix Open. He missed the cut by 12 shots, and it was the first time in his career that he missed the cut in two straight tour events, though they were played six months apart. Most disconcerting was how badly his short game looked.

With analysis on overdrive, the immediate chatter has shifted from whether Woods will match the Jack Nicklaus record of 18 majors (Woods has 14) to whether he can win three more regular PGA Tour events and match the record 82 won by Sam Snead.

“I think that Tiger’s going to have the last laugh,” Mickelson said Wednesday. “I think that his short game, historically, is one of the best of all time. I think his golf game is probably the best of all time.”

Mickelson said the short-game woes are understandable because of how little Woods has played. The Phoenix Open was only his second tournament in six months after taking a break to fully heal from back surgery and to regain his strength. During his time off, Woods began working with a new swing consultant, Chris Como.

“I think the short game, when you haven’t played, it’s the first thing to feel uncomfortable and the quickest thing to get back,” Mickelson said after his pro-am round at the Farmers Insurance Open. “I don’t think he’s going to have any problems, I really don’t. I think we all – myself included – have had stretches where we feel a little uncomfortable. We don’t hit it solid, and usually it’s just a small tweak, because it’s such a short swing that it’s not a hard thing to fix.

“I just don’t see that lasting more than a week or two.”

Mickelson also missed the cut at the Phoenix Open after a 76 in the second round. He tied for 24th in the Humana Challenge. He has gone 31 tournaments without a win dating to the British Open at Muirfield in 2013 for his fifth career major.

Mickelson and Woods have been rivals for some two decades, though it is one-sided. Because of Woods – and Mickelson not at his best when Woods was out with injury – Mickelson has never been No. 1 in the world, won a PGA Tour money title or been voted player of the year. He has 42 victories, putting him at No. 9 on the PGA Tour career list and still 37 wins short of Woods.

Mickelson said he has gone through spells of bad chipping and it comes back. Once the technical issues are solved, he said the confidence returns.

“It’s not like it’s a big concern,” Mickelson said. “As long as he’s healthy and as long as he can swing the club the way he’s swinging it, with the speed he’s swinging at, I think his game will come back pretty quickly.”