Tiger Woods is among 17 golfers tied for 27th entering Friday’s second round of The Genesis Invitational at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. He is five strokes behind co-leaders Max Homa and Keith Mitchell.
Woods will begin his round on the 10th tee at 7:24 a.m. He had five birdies, including on the first hole and each of the final three, and three bogeys as he shot a 2-under 69 Thursday in his first round in an official PGA Tour event since July.
Woods described his round as having “ebbs and flows.”
“It was nice that I had this unbelievable pairing, two great guys, two great friends,” said Woods, who was paired with Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas. “The people were obviously very supportive, they were just cheering all of us on, which is great. Just made this whole tournament better.
“I happened to actually hit some good shots finally and made a couple putts. Even though I had a little mishap at 10, I was able to fight back and get it going. It was a nice finish.”
The Genesis Invitational is Woods’ 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, two days after the conclusion of that year’s Genesis Invitational, which he hosted.
Woods on Thursday said he was “a little bit sore” following the round, and that when he returned to his hotel, “it’s just icing and treatment and icing and treatment, just hit repeat throughout the whole night.”
Woods parred the second and third holes following his birdie on the first hole, bogeyed the par-3 fourth hole, had three consecutive pars, birdied the par-4 eighth hole and parred the ninth hole to finish the front nine at 1-under 34.
Woods bogeyed the 10th and 12 holes, both par 4s, and had three consecutive pars before finishing his round with three consecutive birdies.
“I was trying to calm myself down all day, trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing out here because I haven’t played,” said Woods, who continues as the tournament’s host. “I had to try and figure out what the chess match is going to be. Misses, angles, wind, these are all things that have come second nature to a lot of these guys. I haven’t really done this in a while.”
In 2022, Woods finished 47th in the Masters, was forced to withdraw from the PGA Championship after three rounds and missed the cut at the Open Championship.
Thursday’s round came 844 days since Woods’ last competitive round in a non-major, the 2020 Zozo Championship.
Woods has won 82 times on the PGA Tour, tying Sam Snead for the most in history. Woods has not won a tournament since the 2019 Zozo Championship. His last top 10 finish on the PGA Tour was tying for ninth in the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open.
This is the 15th time Woods has played in what is now The Genesis Invitational, including missing the cut as a 16-year-old amateur in his first appearance in 1992. The 14 starts are his most in a PGA Tour event without a victory. The closest he came to winning was in 1998, when he lost in a playoff to Billy Mayfair. The next year he was among three golfers tied for second, two strokes behind Ernie Els.
Homa’s round of 7-under 64 was his best score in his 21 rounds in The Genesis Invitational, which he won in 2021.
“It just felt like every aspect of my game felt good, good enough to shoot under par,” said Homa, a 2009 graduate of Valencia High School. “You never know when you’re going to shoot 7 under or something, but I felt like I took advantage of how I felt, which is something I think that’s important out here.
“I think sometimes players leave the course frustrated with a 2 under at times because they feel like they had it and they didn’t make the most of it, so I felt like I made the most of it today.”
Homa had eight birdies, including three on each of his final three holes, the seventh through ninth and a bogey on the par-4 15th.
Homa and Jon Rahm are the only multiple winners during the 2022-23 season. Homa won the 2022 Fortinet Championship and last month’s Farmers Insurance Open. Both of Homa’s victories this season and four of the six during his 157 starts entering Thursday have come in California.
Mitchell had eight birdies, including two on his final two holes, the 17th and 18th, and bogeyed the par-4 fifth hole. This is the first time in his 141 starts he has led or shared the lead after 18 holes.
“I hit it better on the front than I did the back, but I chipped and putted better on the back than I did the front, so I just kind of matched the round over 18 holes,” said the 31-year-old Mitchell, who is seeking his second victory on the PGA Tour. His lone victory came in 2019 Honda Classic.
“Hopefully we can be a little bit more consistent tomorrow (Friday) in terms of where we are off the tee. I got in some squirrelly places a little bit back there and was fortunate to get out of them. This golf course, it rewards you off good shots, but it can really penalize you if you hit some poor ones, so tomorrow we’re going to make sure that we keep the ball in front of us in the right places.”
Five first-round leaders or co-leaders since 2000 have gone on to win The Genesis Invitational, including Joaquin Niemann last year.
Rahm is in third at 6-under 65, matching his low score in 17 rounds in The Genesis Invitational.
Rahm was the 15-2 favorite entering the first rounds. His odds have dropped to 3-1, according to BetMGM, an official betting operator of the PGA Tour. Rahm leads the FedEx Cup standings and third behind Scottie Scheffler in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Collin Morikawa, a 2015 La Canada High graduate, is among three golfers tied for fourth at 5-under 66, two strokes off the lead, along with Matt Kutcher and Harris English.
Scheffler, who regained the No. 1 spot from McIlroy Sunday by winning the WM Phoenix Open, is among 12 golfers tied for 44th at 1-under 70, six strokes off the lead.
The field of 129 will be reduced to the low 65 plus ties following the conclusion of the second round.
The $20 million tournament is set to conclude Sunday. The winner will receive $3.6 million.