TIGER WOODS was taken ill with heat exhaustion on the first day of a trip to Thailand yesterday and had to pull out of a pro am tournament.
The 21 year old American, whose mother is Thai, withdrew after playing his second stroke on the 13th hole at the Thai Country Club near Bangkok.
Afterwards, tournament director Peter German said: "Tiger is in the locker room suffering from heat exhaustion after the long flight from the United States. He is not at all well. He cannot give his scheduled press conference and apologises to everyone."
Woods apparently signalled before the 13th hole that something was wrong, played his second shot and then got into a golf buggy and was driven off.
Woods is reportedly being paid £300,000 to play in the Asian Honda Classic tournament at the course, which starts today. He arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday after a 22 hour flight from Pebble Beach, California.
His entourage said he only slept for two hours before getting up to prepare for the pro am event which was being used as a practice tournament for today's opening round.
