Tiger Woods fired a two-over par 73 in the final round at the Genesis Invitational on Saturday, calling four rounds completed in the first start in seven months “progress” although in the classic Woods style he has preferred to do better.
“It’s progress, but I’m not winning,” said the 15-time major champion, who is still limited by a severe lower right leg injury sustained in a February 2021 car accident, which required multiple surgeries.
“It was definitely tougher than I expected,” Woods added after posting a par total of 283 for 72 holes.
“My team is really good at getting me back every day and getting me ready to play every day.
“That’s the hard part that I can’t simulate at home,” Woods said. “Even if I play four days at home, it’s not the same with the adrenaline, it’s not the same with the system that works like that, the intensity, just the focus you need to play at this level.”
Woods, who insisted this week that with spine and right ankle fusion surgery sure to make walking challenging, he can only hope to play all four majors in one season with a “couple” of other events scattered about. a year.
“That’s just going to be my future,” Woods said.
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The first major of the year is The Masters in April at Augusta National – where Woods won his fifth green jacket in 2019.
He did not specify if he could try to compete in other tournaments before the Masters.
Woods has not played in a tour-level event since missing the Open Championship in July.
Sidelined after an accident for the remainder of 2021, he returned at last year’s Masters to finish the series 47th. But he withdrew from the PGA Championship after the third round.
The return to Riviera continues Woods’ long history with the course, where he made the PGA Tour in 1992 as a 16-year-old high school kid playing under a sponsorship exemption.
Unfortunate streak continues
He missed the cut – and Riviera remains the course most played without a tournament victory, with a runner-up finish in 1999 his best result in 14 tournament starts.
“Unfortunately, my streak is still going,” he said.
His four-par 67 on Saturday was Woods’ best round for par since 2020.
But things looked more difficult for the former number one on Sunday.
After birdieing the par-five first, he had bogeys on the fifth, eighth, ninth and 12th before rolling in a 30-footer for a birdie on the 13th that put him back in the red for the tournament.
On 15, however, he missed from within four feet for another bogey.
Woods bounced back quickly, teeing off the tee at the par-three 16th to within six feet and making birdie, but he couldn’t take advantage of the par-five 17th, when he was in a greenside bunker on his way to a par.
He closed with a textbook par at 18 and had a wave for a large, supportive gallery.
While Woods has plenty of time to hang out with colleagues like Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy at home, things are different.
“I miss the brotherhood of the guys,” he said, adding that after being away from the tour in recent years, it was also interesting to see “a lot of new faces here who will be the future of our tour.”