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Tiger Woods announced via his website that he would not be playing the Wells Fargo Championship due to minor injuries to his surgically-paired left knee and his Achilles tendon.

Woods suffered a Grade 1 mild medial collateral ligament sprain to his left knee and a mild strain to his left Achilles tendon while hitting a difficult and awkward second shot from the pine straw under the Eisenhower tree left of the fairway at No. 17 during the third round of the Masters. Woods was able to continue playing at Augusta and then later decided to seek a medical evaluation.

Doctors have advised rest and cold-water therapy, and soft tissue treatment will also occur later this week. There is no definitive time frame for healing, but Woods hopes to be back in a few weeks.

“I personally contacted tournament officials and expressed my regret in not being able to play,” Woods said. “This is an outstanding event, but I must follow doctors’ orders to get better.”

The announcement brings up a couple of thoughts on Tiger, his comeback and his schedule.

First of all, although it wasn’t though of as much at the time, Woods winced noticably on his approach shot into 18 at the Masters. It was one of those grit-your-teeth kind of faces that shows something’s just not right. At that point, with the problems Woods had on the back nine, effectively stalling and letting a possible Masters victory slip from his grasp thanks to a bulky putter, the wince could have been interpreted as realization of a missed opportunity.

Nevertheless, Tiger gave that awful interview and boarded his private jet.

Which brings up my next point. If the tweak was suffered on Saturday afternoon, it more than likely was not improved upon on Sunday, so why fly across the globe to China knowing full-well that you have “minor injuries?” China’s always going to be there. If Woods is truly sincere about getting his game back to top form, wouldn’t it make more sense to rest the injury, enabling him to be healthy for the meat of the PGA Tour season?

Instead, flying to China to give lessons and put on clinics delayed his recovery.

Finally, if Tiger is going to miss the Wells Fargo, what are we to make of his chances of competing in The Players. Conventional wisdom points to a slim chance he appears at the “Fifth Major.” Woods has not fared well at the TPC Sawgrass, failing to win the tournament in the past 10 years.

Assuming he does miss The Players, the next stop on his usual schedule is right up the road from me in Dublin, Ohio at The Memorial, which takes place June 2-5. That means that between the Masters and US Open, Woods will play exactly one time, unless he adds an event to his schedule.

For me, it’s hard to see Tiger making any significant improvements without the help of tournament golf.

Then again, it is Tiger Woods and when it comes to him we’ve learned we don’t really know all that much.