Tiger Woods at the Genesis Invitational
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Hello friends, and happy Saturday! Between Tiger’s illness and Spieth’s disqualification, I’m still recovering from a very chaotic Friday at the Genesis Invitational. The media center breakfast and coffee we had on Friday morning feels like it occurred days ago. Please note: that’s not a complaint! But there were a few stressful hours on Friday as we all waited to hear the latest on Tiger Woods. Allow me to take you through the day here.
Tiger fans out and about
Tiger didn’t tee off until later in the day on Friday, but his fans were out and about early in the day. People are starting to get very creative with their golf fan apparel, and I loved this guy’s shirt.
I considered looking online to buy one for myself, but I ran into some issues in the cost-per-wear department. Then again, maybe I’ll buy it and save it for a special occasion. Y’know, like a wedding.
Also, special shoutout to this friend group, who rocked the “big dog” meme to the course.
Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images
Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images
And of course, it isn’t a golf tournament until someone is spotted in the gallery dressed like livestock. I’ve seen Tiger costumes at tournaments before, but these inflatable Tigers were definitely a first.
I thought I’d see a costume like this one at the WM Phoenix Open rather than the scenier, more refined crowds of Riviera, but I’m not complaining. Incredible creativity by these guys, and speaking of cost-per-wear, I’m sure you could break out these bad boys as a Halloween costume in the future.
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Tiger’s throwback look
I’m becoming a big fan of Sun Day Red‘s Instagram game. Not only do they show us Tiger’s looks each day, but they also share a bunch of photos from each round.
Each round’s outfit even gets a name! Friday’s was “The ’92,” in honor of the shirt Tiger wore in his PGA Tour debut at Riviera in 1992.
Sun Day Red on Instagram
2024 Tiger went with a darker shade of blue, but this look is still pretty spot-on. If only he committed to the USGA hat as well.
This throwback outfit got me thinking: Will Sun Day Red be adding more vintage Tiger looks to his tournament scripting? I hope so. I took the liberty of checking out the oldest photos of Tiger Woods on Getty Images to pick out some looks I think he should wear next.
If anyone can pull these off, It’s Tiger. Imagine bringing back the U.S. Amateur look? I wouldn’t mind seeing him return to the straw hat game.
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Tiger could even bring back the baggy shirt look.
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As an exercise, I encourage you, dear reader, to take a moment to think about what you wore to your first-ever day of work. I challenge you to wear something similar in the next week or two. Unfortunately, it probably won’t get the same appreciation that Tiger’s throwback outfit did, but it’d still be a blast. I think I’d have to wear a *shudders* … Lilly Pulitzer skirt and ballet flats.
Tiger’s WD
Being on-site at golf tournaments is my favorite, but one shortcoming of being out and about with a specific group is that you miss a lot of the action you’d be following if you were watching on television. Especially when there’s bad phone service, as there is this week at the Genesis. I was by the eighth green when I saw a post that Tiger had withdrawn, but nothing else was loading on my phone so I didn’t have much information. Same goes for the hundreds of fans who were waiting for him to come by. A number of people in the gallery didn’t figure out Tiger had withdrawn until Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland teed off on the next hole without him.
I decided not to immediately head back to the clubhouse, but it was weird to know that firetrucks and an ambulance had arrived to Riviera (presumably) for Tiger, and weirder to know that the players weren’t aware of it. There was a wild 90 or so minutes of waiting between Tiger getting carted back into the clubhouse before anyone got any word of what was going on.
Thankfully, he’s fine, but it got me wondering: Is there any other professional golfer who would receive this treatment if they fell ill at this event? Getting sick is the worst, but getting an IV bag brought to you might be the best-case scenario there. I unfortunately would’ve had to hydrate the old-fashioned way — with a yellow Gatorade and Pedialyte from CVS.
I’m glad Tiger is on the mend, and hope to see him hand out the Genesis Invitational trophy on Sunday afternoon at Riviera.
Sangmoon Bae saves a life (?!)
I love seeing what players are up to outside of the golf course. I’m used to seeing Instagram posts of pros at a nice restaurant or on their boat, but what arrived on my feed on Saturday evening was definitely a first.
Here is the story, as best we know it from a handful of Korean media organizations and social media posts: Sangmoon Bae, the former Tour winner, was in a restaurant earlier this week when one of the employees went unconscious. According to various reports (including one shared by Bae’s longtime friend and fellow pro Danielle Kang), Bae took immediate action and administered CPR, saving the guy’s life.
What a hero! I hope he makes every cut this year after that.
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