He’s back.
Fifteen-time major champion Tiger Woods is making his return to professional golf at Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles for the Genesis Invitational next week where he will be the host of the tournament. Woods has not played competitively since July 2022 in the British Open at the Old Course in St Andrews, where he missed the cut.
The 47-year-old made just three appearances last year — all major championships — including a 47th-place finish at the Masters in April where he returned after a 14-month absence due to a car accident that led to major surgery on both of his legs and at Southern Hills for the PGA Championship where he withdrew before the final round due to his leg.
The 82-time PGA tour winner was expected to compete in another tournament that he hosts — The Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas — however, plantar fasciitis delayed his return to golf without the use of a cart (something he refuses to rely on citing walking as a competitive aspect of the game).
“I think [walking] is an integral part of the game at our level, and I will never take a golf cart until it’s sanctioned,” Woods said in November 2022. “It’s sanctioned on the Champions Tour and the PNC is part of that [a PGA Tour Champions sanctioned event]. As far as a regular event, no, I would never do that.”
Woods’ appearance at Riviera will likely be one of the few times he will be seen this season. He admittedly doesn’t have much left in his leg, which makes the grind for a full-length tour schedule difficult to navigate.
“The goal is to play just the major championships and maybe one or two more; that’s it,” Woods added in November. “Physically that’s all I can do. I don’t have much left in this leg, so gear up for the biggest ones and hopefully, you know, lightning catches in a bottle, and I’m up there in contention with a chance to win and hopefully I remember how to do that.
“But again, giving myself a chance to get out there again. I didn’t expect to play three majors this year. We were hoping for just the British Open, but I was able to get two more in there, so that was a big positive.”
The Genesis Invitational will be the first regular PGA tour event that Woods has competed in since Oct. 25, 2020 at the Zozo championship. He is three major championships shy of tying Jack Nicklaus’ record — thanks to his 2019 win at Augusta National — and just one shy of breaking Sam Snead’s PGA Tour victory record.
