Tiger Woods carded a final-round 73 to finish tied-45th in PGA Tour comeback; 15-time major champion was making his first official appearance since The Open in July; Woods expected to feature at The Masters from April 6-9
Last Updated: 19/02/23 11:58pm
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Tiger Woods reflects on his competitive return at the Genesis Invitational, how far he has come in his career and what his plans are for the future.
Tiger Woods admits he is unsure whether he will play competitively again before The Masters after making an encouraging return to PGA Tour action at the Genesis Invitational.
Woods marked his first competitive start since The Open last July – and first PGA Tour appearance outside of a major since the Zozo Championship in October 2020 – with a final-round 73 at Riviera Country Club.
The 15-time major champion has regularly stated he would be unable to commit to a full playing schedule, following career-threatening injuries sustained in a car crash in February 2021, although Woods remains hopeful of competing in all four majors
Tiger Woods has never won at Riviera Country Club
“Well, I am sure you will see me in some place,” Woods told CBS. “Competitively, I don’t know.
“My goal each and every year from here going forward is to play in all the majors – I am not going to play too much more than that. My body and my leg and my back just won’t allow me to play much more than that anymore.
“So that was my goal last year and I was able to play three of the four and this year, I can hopefully play all four. That is going to be my schedule going forward because of all of the limitations I have.”
Woods birdied his opening hole but made three bogeys in a five-hole stretch from the sixth, then mixed two birdies with as many bogeys on the back nine to end under par for the tournament.
“My game is fine,” Woods said after his final round. “Yeah, it is rusty. I made some silly mistakes here and there and I didn’t quite pick up the speed of the greens each and every day fast enough, like I normally would if I was playing.
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Tiger Woods carded an impressive four-under 67 on day three of the the Genesis Invitational as he continued his return from injury.
“But overall, I feel like I hit the ball like I have been hitting it at home. I just had to bring it out here where I had to walk from point A to point B and that was always the difficulty of it.
“I am just so thankful for all my team for getting me ready each and every night, morning, to at least give myself a chance to go out there and play. I was able to do it.”
Tiger Woods played alongside Tyrrell Hatton and Kramer Hickok on the final day in California
The story of Tiger’s Sunday
Woods recovered from missing the opening fairway to roll in a 15-foot birdie at the par-five first and holed from 12 feet at the third to save par, having found the greenside bunker with his approach.
The former world No 1 got up and down from the back off the fourth green to continue his bogey-free start but missed from four feet to save par at the next, with Woods then failing to convert an eight-foot birdie chance after a brilliant tee shot at the par-three sixth.
Woods found fairway bunkers off the tee at both the eighth and ninth, leaving him unable to get up and down on both occasions and seeing him close a front-nine 37 with successive bogeys, then failed to take advantage of the par-five 11th after two-putting from eight feet.
The 47-year-old responded to a poor pitch from the rough and dropped shot at the 12th by holing a long-range birdie at the par-four next to get back under par for the tournament, only to card a three-putt bogey at the 15th to slip back level-par for the tournament.
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Tiger Woods produced a moment of magic by holing a long-range birdie from off the 13th green during the final round
A brilliant tee shot at the par-three 16th set up a third birdie of the day for Woods, who failed to add to his tally at the par-five next and then signed off an encouraging week with a two-putt par at the last.
When could Woods return?
Woods could consider the Arnold Palmer Invitational from March 2-5 his next competitive start, an event he has won a record eight times at Bay Hill, although that would leave limited recovery time from this week’s appearance in California.
Will Tiger Woods compete in all four majors for the first time since 2020?
The Players at TPC Sawgrass would be another option a week later, with this year’s event marking the 10th anniversary of Woods’ second victory at the PGA Tour’s flagship event.
Should Woods decide against competing in either of the two Florida-based events, then it would be unlikely we would see him back in action before the opening men’s major of the year at Augusta National.
Woods finished 47th at The Masters last year and will be hoping to improve on that performance from April 6-9, live on Sky Sports, four years on from winning the Green Jacket for a fifth time.
