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September 21, 2013 Tiger Woods has blamed it on season fatigue for his dramatic collapse over the closing stretch at the Tour Championship on Friday after he had surged into contention with five birdies in his first 13 holes.

“I put everything I had into that start and didn’t have much at the end,” Woods, who had declined to speak to reporters the previous day after opening with a 73, said of his round.

“Just ran out of gas. I’m tired.”

[highlight] It’s been just a long, long grind.Everyone out here has got some knick-knack injuries, and guys are taped up and banged up a little bit. We have played a lot of golf from the British Open on [/highlight]

The FedEx Cup point leader was adjudged a favorite coming to East Lake at the PGA Tour’s season-ending event. However, he ended up with a one-over-par 71 on a sun-splashed day at East Lake.

Woods, chasing his sixth victory this year was nine strokes off the pace overnight, ran up a double-bogey at the 14th, a bogey at the 16th and an ugly triple at the 17th as he finished well down the leader board at four-over 144.

For This 14 time Major winner, his fitness has rarely been questioned. However, he was candid in his reply when asked whether he had suffered from physical fatigue, replied: “Yeah, definitely.”

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“It’s been just a long, long grind,” the 37-year-old American replied. “Everyone out here has got some knick-knack injuries, and guys are taped up and banged up a little bit. We have played a lot of golf from the British Open on.”

The fed Ex Cup Champion of 2007 and 2009 is not going to give up easy, Woods was predictably optimistic when asked to assess his overall position going into the final two rounds at East Lake where an elite field of 30 players is competing.

“I’m still in contention,” he said. “There’s 36 holes. That’s why we play. That’s why we play four rounds.

“This is not a sprint. It’s tournament golf. It’s four rounds. It’s a marathon. You’ve got to keep plugging around.”