PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Tiger Woods has a new caddie, a new line of clothing but the same pursuit as always.
“A nice W would be nice, right? I haven’t ever won this event,” he said. “Hopefully I can figure something out and get myself in there in contention and maybe get a W at the end of the week.”
Woods, the winner of 82 PGA Tour titles, made his Tour debut here in 1992 but has yet to win in 15 previous starts at Riviera Country Club. Woods made clear that it frustrates him to no end.
“You can see that, and you’re asking me the question,” he said, breaking into a smile. “I have never really gotten hot with the putter at this course. Generally they’re bumpy poa, so it’s been a little bit tricky. For some reason, it just has never compiled to a hot week.”
He’s both the tournament host at the Genesis Invitational and playing for the first time in an official Tour event since the Masters after undergoing surgery to fuse his right ankle two weeks later and didn’t play a competitive round until December at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. He finished 18th out of 20 players. Woods said in December that his goal this year is to play one event a month through the major season.
“Trying to get used to the new feels of the body. That’s always the challenge. And the challenges of trying to get Tour ready, that’s been what we’ve been trying to do the last couple weeks and trying be sure I’m physically fit and ready to play this event,” he said. “We have our work cut out for us and look forward to it.”
Woods played nine holes on Tuesday and competed in the pro-am Wednesday in a group with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and veteran Major League Baseball player Aaron Hicks, who is married to Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece.
On a glorious sunny day with just enough breeze that Woods wore a black sweater for 17 of the 18 holes, he was sporting Sun Day Red attire, the new clothing line he launched on Monday and a prototype of the brand’s footwear. Woods noted that he had to make a few modifications to the footwear to compensate for the different terrain from practicing near his home in Florida.
“Being at home in Florida and testing in Florida was very different than coming out here and playing off a slope and playing off of wet grass and having the traction I needed,” he said. “So I put some nails (spikes) in yesterday and it’s been working.”
Woods’s swing looked both fluid…
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