Tiger Woods was forced to leave the green and withdraw from the Bridgestone Invitational Sunday after injuring his back.

Tiger Woods Withdraws

Woods, 38, aggravated his back while tackling the second hole of the course. At the time, Woods was attempting to play the ball from the edge of a bunker, which caused him to fall backwards while slashing at the ball.

"It happened on the second hole when I hit my second shot, I fell back into the bunker. I just jarred it, and it's been spasming ever since," Woods told a PGA Tour official, according to USA Today Sports. "It's just the whole lower back. I don't know what happened."

The defending Bridgestone Invitational champion struggled mightily during his round. His shots ended up in a pond, deep into the trees and into a concession stand. After trying to battle through his pain, it eventually became too much for the veteran golfer. On the ninth hole, he called an official over and was subsequently driven off the course to his car by his caddie Joe LaCava.

When asked if he still plans to play at the PGA Championship in Louisville next week, the golfer wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make it. "I don't know," Woods said. "Just trying to get out of here."

Woods' Back Troubles

Woods had surgery on his back for a pinched nerve that had been nagging him for years on March 31. Following the surgery, Woods sat out of competition for two months, coming back for the Quicken Loans National June 26. Since then, Woods has played in three tournaments and has admitted that recovering from his back trauma has been a long and arduous process.

"There is no comparison between a knee and a back," Woods said earlier this week, according to the Los Angeles Times. "This thing is just way different. It's way more debilitating than I thought."