It was an open secret, but now it’s official. Tiger Woods confirmed this Wednesday through his social networks that he will play next week’s Genesis Invitational, a tournament in which he is personally involved and which takes place at the legendary Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. It will be Tiger Woods’ first tournament since the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and his first official appearance on the PGA Tour since the Masters.
It was an open secret because Tiger himself had been announcing it since the end of last year, specifically since he played the PNC Championship with his son Charlie and the tournament in the Bahamas. Physically he looked much better and although his golf, as is logical, was not exactly consistent (he finished third from last in the Bahamas, only ahead of Will Zalatoris and Wyndham Clark), he did offer flashes of quality. In any case, the best thing about those two weeks is that his ankle barely hurt him and he was able to withstand the four rounds quite naturally given his circumstances.
In fact, Woods assured those days that his goal was to play more or less one tournament a month, which translates into trying to compete in the four Majors and some tournament here and there like the Genesis Invitational, perhaps the Arnold Palmer, the THE PLAYERS or the Memorial. We will have to see if he is able to complete that ambitious schedule.
Tiger already played the Genesis last year and made the cut. He finished in 45th place. Interestingly, he has never won at Riviera, one of the few courses, of those he has played a lot in his career, that eludes him.
By the way, Tiger’s return comes with an extra incentive: to check the clothes he is going to wear. As you know, after a lifetime he broke with Nike and, in theory, he is going to use his own brand developed by TaylorMade. We say in theory because it is news that has emerged in the US media and that, for now, has not been confirmed by the parties.
