Expectations for this week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club are already high thanks to its elevated status and the involvement of 15-time Major winner Tiger Woods, who made the shock announcement that he would play last week.
While expectations that the 47-year-old could win the tournament are tempered given his lack of competitive action in recent months, it is never a good idea to write off the chances of a player who has amassed 82 PGA Tour wins. That number sees him tied with Sam Snead at the top of the list of players with the most wins on the Tour, so he certainly has the incentive to add another to his haul this week.
Another big motivator could be his opportunity to make an enormous jump up the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). Woods is currently languishing in the World No.1294 position. Incredibly, though, victory in Los Angeles could see Woods sitting just outside the top 50, at World No.54.
🚨And due to popular demand…@TigerWoods could reach #54 with a win 🐯@thegenesisinv #OWGR https://t.co/LMQmTI5INMFebruary 13, 2023
That would be his highest position for almost two years, when he was World No.53 during the week of 28 February 2021. Of course, that was just days after he suffered a leg injury in a horrific car accident that would see him sidelined until the PNC Championship that December.
Woods’ long-awaited competitive comeback came in last year’s Masters, the first opportunity to claim OWGR points since the accident. As he teed it up at Augusta National, Woods was World No.973. However, a creditable finish of 47 saw him jump to World No.745, with the anticipation that his comeback would gather pace.
It wasn’t quite to be. After withdrawing following the third round of the PGA Championship with his leg still bothering him, he was down to World No. 841. His next chance to collect the points, in July’s 150th Open at St Andrews, finished with him missing the cut as his slide back down the rankings continued, leaving him at World No.1009.
Finally, he can make a long-awaited climb to respectability this week. History in the tournament is not on his side, though. Despite his huge number of PGA Tour wins, incredibly, the Genesis Invitational is not among them. The closest he has come to winning the event (then named the Nissan Open) was in 1998, when he lost in a playoff to Billy Mayfair and the year after, when another playoff defeat left Ernie Els to claim the title.
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