Tiger Woods raises concerns over fresh injury ahead of the Masters after withdrawing from Cadillac Championship The alarm signs were first evident at the 10th, where Woods pulled his second shot into the lake and walked after the ball in obvious discomfort. But the problem became clearer at the next hole, where he sliced his approach into a greenside bunker and visibly flinched as he came off the shot. He saved par, but was three over par for the tournament and apparently out of contention when he decided to abandon the round. Escorted by a buggy to the car park, Woods stepped inside his Mercedes and drove away, tracked by a television helicopter. His left leg has been a chronic source of concern: in the Players Championship in 2010, pain in the knee again led him to withdraw before he took four months away from the game to allow the injury to heal. Throughout an encouraging start to the season Woods has insisted that the leg felt stronger than it had for years. At last weekend's Honda Classic, Woods shot a closing 62 to finish in a tie for second. But he looked in trouble early yesterday, even changing his golf shoes in the middle of the round in an apparent attempt to ease the strain on his left leg. In echoes of the drama at the Honda seven days earlier, this was a day to reflect the changing of the generations in golf. Where Woods was departing Doral to a whole raft of uncertainties, Rory McIlroy, who has taken over the mantle at world No 1 aged just 22, was again surging up the leaderboard. Eight adrift of third-round leader Bubba Watson when he teed off yesterday, McIlroy picked up four birdies in his first 10 holes before an eagle three at the 12th hastened his charge. Justin Rose was similarly well poised, exploiting a host of errors from Watson to vault to the head of the field at 16 under after 12. During the first nine, his American playing partner did not hit a single fairway. Luke Donald, the man whom McIlroy deposed at world No 1, was also in determined pursuit, reaching 12 under at the 16th. It had been a day of dramatically fluctuating fortunes at Doral. Sergio Garcia endured some of the worst, depositing four balls in the water at the third in the par-four process of racking up 12. It seemed somehow miraculous that the Spaniard had both a double-bogey and octuple-bogey on his card but still managed to return a 76. We needed to spare a thought, too, for Paul Casey's caddie. When the Englishman mounted the tee at the par-three 15th, he naturally assumed that the Cadillac behind him was the reward for acing the hole. Casey duly informed his man on the bag, Craig Connelly, that they would split the prize if Casey had a hole-in-one. Guess what happened next. With an eight-iron, Casey delivered the ace, and Connelly was euphoric. Not for long, however, a rules official dolefully informed him that the 13th, not the 15th, was a the prize-winning hole, causing the caddie to storm away from the hole. "I knocked it into the hole, and Craig went bananas," Casey said. I never enjoyed not winning a car so much. Connelly responded, in jest: "Did you not see his face when he holed it? The fact that he had to give me 50 per cent?