Tiger Woods shot his lowest round in his last 18 rounds on the PGA Tour Saturday, a 4-under-par 67, to move from an 11-way tie for 58th to a seven-way tie for 26th through three rounds of The Genesis Invitational.
Woods began his round with a birdie on the 10th hole at The Riviera Country Club, then parred the next three holes. Woods birdied the par-3 14th, then completed the back nine with four consecutive pars.
Woods eagled the 509-yard par-5 first hole. He hit his drive 316 yards to the right rough, then hit a 190-yard approach shot 3 feet from the cup to set up the eagle, his 189th during his 372 starts on the PGA Tour and first since the fourth round of the 2020 Genesis Invitational.
Each of Woods’ last three eagles have come on Riviera’s first hole.
Woods birdied the par-4 fifth hole after three consecutive pars. He had his only bogey of the round on the par-4 seventh.
“I felt like I made some nice adjustments with my putting and that was the thing that held make back yesterday,” said Woods, who shot a 3-over par 74 Friday, making the cut with no room to spare.
Woods gained 1.023 strokes with his putting Saturday, the 15th best figure in the field. He lost 1.699 strokes Friday, the 105th best figure among what was then a 128-player field.
“I’ve always been a person who likes to hook my putts, so I just tried to feel like I went back to releasing the putter blade more, more right hand, more release,” Woods said after his best round in an official PGA Tour event since shooting a 6-under 66 in the second round of the 2020 Zozo Championship. “I just hate that blocky feeling which I had yesterday, which I can’t stand.
“So I go back to hooking my putts and it felt like my normal stroke, which was good.”
Woods is at 3-under-par 210 though three rounds, 12 strokes behind leader Jon Rahm. Woods was 11 strokes behind then-leader Max Homa through two rounds.
“I wanted to get in touch with the leaders today,” Woods said. “I was hoping to shoot something a little bit lower than I did just so I could reach out to them hopefully with a low round tomorrow. I might be a little far away.”
The Genesis Invitational, which Woods hosts, is his fourth official PGA Tour event since he suffered multiple fractures to his right leg and ankle when the SUV he was driving rolled over on a downhill slope of northbound Hawthorne Boulevard in Rancho Palos Verdes on Feb. 23, 2021.
Woods only completed one of the previous three — The Masters last April, finishing 47th. He was forced to withdraw from the PGA Championship in May after three rounds and missed the cut at the Open Championship in July.
“The golf part I can do,” Woods said. “It’s just a matter of whether I can get from point A to point B. That’s been the struggle part of it. I can hit shots, I can hit balls on the range, I can chip, I can putt. It’s just getting from point A to point B has been the biggest challenge.”
Rahm had the day’s second-lowest round, a bogey-free 6-under 65 to take a three-stroke lead over Homa at 15-under 198.
“Really proud of today, heck of a round of golf,” Rahm said. “Took advantage of a couple good lies in the rough and made every putt that I needed to keep the round going, highlighted by the one on 13.”
Rahm made a 12-foot, 3-inch putt on the par-4 13th hole for the par that kept him one stroke ahead of Homa, who was playing in the same group as Rahm and had birdied the hole.
Eleven players who led or shared the lead through three rounds at The Genesis Invitational since 2000 have gone on to win the tournament, including Joaquin Niemann last year.
Homa shot a 2-under 69 with four birdies and bogeys on the par-4 15th hole and par-3 16th.
“I played great. I didn’t feel like I got the bounces,” said Homa, the 2021 Genesis Invitational champion and 2009 graduate of Valencia High School. “I got a lot out of the shots I was hitting, so tomorrow will be a different day.”
Rahm and Homa are the only players with multiple victories during the 2022-23 season with two each. The Genesis Invitational is the 16th event of the season.
Keith Mitchell is third, four strokes off the lead at 11-under 201, after shooting a 2-under 69 Saturday. The former UCLA and Servite High standout Patrick Cantlay is fourth at 10-under 203, five strokes behind Rahm.
Denny McCarthy had Saturday’s low round, a 7-under 64 to move from nine-way tie for 49th, 10 strokes off the lead to a four-way tie for sixth, eight strokes off the lead.
Rahm was the 15-2 favorite entering the first round. His odds have dropped to 1-3, according to BetMGM, an official betting operator of the PGA Tour. Homa is the second choice at 4-1.
The $20 million tournament is set to conclude Sunday. The winner will receive $3.6 million.