PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Three members of golf’s walking wounded returned to the PGA Tour on Thursday with varying degrees of success.
Genesis Invitational tournament host and 82-time Tour winner Tiger Woods headlined a trio of pros who had been sidelined of late. Woods, 48, made his first official start since withdrawing from the Masters in April after making the 36-hole cut and then undergoing surgery to fuse his right ankle two weeks later. Woods gave himself a sponsor’s invite into the signature event with a $20 million purse as well as to Will Zalatoris, who withdrew before the start of the last Masters and required back surgery at the tender age of 26. A third sponsor invite was doled out to Gary Woodland, the former U.S. Open champion, who had brain surgery in September and hasn’t made a cut in three starts since his return to action.
On a delightfully sunny day near the city of angels, Woods, 48, attracted a typically large following that was hungry to see what his game looked like. It was a tale of signs of brilliance and moments of rust, carding five birdies against six bogeys for a 1-over-par 72 in the opening round at Riviera Country Club.
“A lot of good and a lot of indifferent. It was one or the other. I don’t know how many pars I had, wasn’t many. I was either making birdies or bogeys and just never really got anything consistent going today,” Woods said. “It was one of those days, just never really got anything consistently going and hopefully tomorrow I can clean it up.”
With their son, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, not teeing off until two hours later, Scott and Diane Scheffler were among the masses that watched Woods open with an easy two-putt birdie at the par-5 first but overcook his chip at the second and make a sloppy bogey from the middle of the fairway. Woods dropped another shot at the third, the first of four times he failed to get up and down from the sand. Even the 15-time major champion said he deals with nerves and he also struggled to adjust to the adrenaline rush of being back in the heat of competition.
“It is impossible to prepare for. I rely so much on experience and having done this a long time, but still having the adrenaline dump in the system, ball goes further, speed goes up, just the yardages are a little bit different than they are at home,” he explained. “It’s just different and that’s just a part of playing competitive golf.”
He struck a couple of pretty irons at Nos. 4 and 6, a pair of par 3s, to make birdies and get into red figures for the first time. He turned in 1-under 34 but after he made the turn the winds picked up and so did his score. He would sprinkle in four bogeys and just two birdies at the par 5s – Nos. 11 and 17—on the card. He was 6-over on the par 4s, which included a bogey at the last after his ugliest shot of the day, an 8-iron from 170 yards in the fairway that hit the hosel and flew off to the right.
A reporter tried to dance around the subject, saying, “I’m not going to say the word, but on 18 … ”
“Oh, definitely, I shanked it,” Woods said, interrupting. “Well, my back was spasming the last couple holes and it was locking up. I came down and it didn’t move and I presented hosel first and shanked it.”
Woods’s short game showed the most rust and it would be put to the test because he managed to hit just 10 greens in regulation. Woods was 2 for 8 in scrambling, which ranked T-67 in a field of 70. He also ranked 52nd in Strokes Gained: Putting, losing nearly a stroke to the field on the greens.
“I struggled with the speed of the greens,” he said. “I couldn’t believe how fast they were today even though I made a couple.”
For Woods, the biggest question remains how his body holds up and Mark McCumber, the 10-time PGA Tour winner and analyst for PGA Tour Radio, said that will be judged almost day-to-day.
“Can he last 18 holes without his body getting to where he can’t hold the angle because his body is getting tired or fatigued. That’s what we have to look for as the week goes on,” McCumber said. “If he has his health, I’m not worried about his golf game; that hasn’t gone anywhere.”
Woods showed no signs of discomfort until late in the round when he complained of back spasms and blamed the shank on his back locking up. That’s a discouraging sign after all the work he’s put in to mount yet another comeback this season.
“Foot’s good. Leg’s a little bit sore, things are a little bit sore, but that’s to be expected. That’s nothing that we weren’t prepared for and we’ve got some work to do tonight and tomorrow,” Woods said.
Woods will enter the second round with work to do to make the weekend. The Genesis Invitational is the first of three player-hosted invitationals along with the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament this season, which will have a 36-hole cut to the top 50 or any player within 10 strokes of the lead.
Woods played alongside Woodland, who birdied the first three holes and stood at 4 under through 11 holes before losing his way a bit coming home. He signed for 1-under 70.
“What he’s been through is scary,” Woods said of Woodland dealing with lesions on his brain. “I haven’t seen Wood at all. To be out there with him and just share the moment with him, it was a lot of fun.”
Zalatoris was the best of the sponsor invites on the comeback trail. He raced to six birdies in his first eight holes and posted a front-nine 29 en route to signing for 66. He trailed Patrick Cantlay, by two strokes after the former UCLA golfer and Southern California native made eight birdies and one bogey to post 7-under 64 and claim the clubhouse lead during the first round.
Woods will return to the course on Friday afternoon at 2:54 p.m. ET once again alongside Woodland and Justin Thomas.
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