At dusk, Tiger Woods searches for the bright spots

JERSEY CITY – Tiger Woods hit the 10th tee box of Liberty National Golf Club towards a distant Manhattan skyline, covered in clouds. The images were crystalline, even if the horizon was not.

When Woods, 43, dropped out on Thursday morning at the Northern Trust, the first FedEx Cup playoff event, he did not know what the next few hours would reveal about his game or his body. His four-over-par 75 – his fifth over-par score in 13 rounds since his Masters victory in April – raised more questions than clarity.

"It just feels frustrating to photograph something high, no matter how I feel," said Woods, adding that his back was "a bit stiff, yes, but it will be like that."

After four back operations, Woods must view each of his score cards as a scratch card; he can still win the jackpot, but because he is not sure what each new day will reveal, the element of luck is looming.

On occasion Woods wakes up and feels the way he did that humid Sunday in Augusta National three months ago; strong and light, able to beat everyone, like he did with a closing 70 to get his 15th big title.

More often than not Woods struggles to get out of bed and feels like he did during Wednesday's pro-am round; stiff and slow, just like a golfer feted by his fans, but unable to compete with his younger self or the generation of players whose career was shaped to his image.

Thursday fell somewhere in the middle. Woods generated sufficient club head speed for the 26-year-old J.T. to surpass. Poston, one of the players with whom he was grouped, by 53 yards on par-4 17. That was after he tried – and almost succeeded – to ride the green at the 303-yard, par-4 16th.

But Woods couldn't drop the nervous putts, missing four within seven feet, including a three-footer for par at the third hole of par-4.

"Sometimes it is," Woods said. "It doesn't matter how much you try, it doesn't matter how many you want. It happened before. It happened today, and I'm sure it will happen in the future – hopefully not tomorrow."

Wood's slow start turned the 36-hole into a mountain that might be too big for him to scale in. He entered the FedEx Cup rankings on the 28th week, leaving the field outside after the second event next week Chicago, thrown into the top 30 and Woods can clamber to linger so he can try to defend his Tour Championship title at the playoff final in Atlanta in two weeks.

Towards the end of Thursday Woods was 13 battles behind the Northern Trust leader, Troy Merritt.

His round had his moments, throwing the par-5 13th in a better light with a birdie, at the same hole in the final round from this event in 2013, Woods hit his fairway wood and turned his on knees driven by back cramps. He ended up in a draw behind Adam Scott and blamed a mattress that was too soft for the spasms. It marked the beginning of a few dark years in which he tried to regain his physical health.

It is an ongoing battle for Woods, who has scaled back his practice and tournament schedule to try to get the most out of his career and his surgically back melted. Poston placed a 67 when he rode the momentum of his first career victory, which he sealed last Sunday with a slot 62 at the Wyndham Championship.

Woods has not been able to play enough to nestle in a groove. Since his win at the Masters, Woods has played 26 less competitive rounds than Poston. It is as if Woods is trapped between the player he was – the one who outsmarted everyone – and the ceremonial golfer he does not want to become.

To find the middle, Woods must work smarter than anyone, rather than longer. During his morning pro-am Wednesday, back stiffness caused Woods to limit his work to mainly chips and putts on the back nine. His rusty game with iron and wedge suggests that he could not have spent much time refining those parts of his game. Woods gave in as much and described the effort as a challenge. He added: "It tries to figure out how to stay sharp, practice and always feel my back well."

While Woods signed his scorecard on Thursday, his caddy, Joe LaCava, received a piece of paper that contained a quote from the Slugger of Red Sox David Ortiz in 2013, when he was 37 years old and a few years after his retirement.

"It's like a lottery because you don't know how long your body can last," Ortiz told The Boston Globe.

Ortiz added: "I'm not going to lie to you – there are a few days when I have a hard time catching up with fastballs or catching up with the pitches I used to play with. But I can still always hurt. ”

LaCava finished reading and looked up." That's pretty accurate, "he said.