LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods will make his first competitive start of 2024 at next week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, the 15-times major winner said.
Woods, who will serve as a player-host for the Feb. 15-18 PGA Tour event that benefits his foundation, announced his decision on social media according to Reuters.
The Genesis Invitational is one of the PGA Tour’s eight Signature Events this year and features both a halfway cut and $20 million purse, including $4 million for the winner.
This will mark Woods’ first official PGA Tour start since last year’s Masters, where he withdrew before the third round and later had fusion surgery on his right ankle.
The Genesis Invitational is a limited field for top performers. Woods will be playing on a sponsor exemption.
After sitting out most of 2023, Woods marked his return to professional golf at the end of November in an unofficial PGA Tour — the Hero World Challenge — which featured a limited field and no cut.
Two weeks later, Woods competed with his son Charlie at the PNC Championship, which is a 36-hole event featuring two-player teams made up of a major champion and a family member.
When Woods announced in January that he had ended his decades-long partnership with Nike, he closed his statement with the words “See you in LA!”, which suggested he was planning to play the Genesis Invitational.
Last year at Riviera, Woods went one under par through four rounds and finished in a share of 45th place.
Woods, 48, has played in 14 tournaments at Riviera and never has won. His best finish came in 1999 when he finished second at the Nissan Los Angeles Open, as the tournament formerly was known.
It was after the Genesis Invitational in February 2021 that Woods was involved in a single-car accident that left him with severe leg injuries. Since then, the 82-time tour winner has played in just six official PGA Tour tournaments.
Rust will continue to be a storyline as Woods progresses through 2024. The 82-time PGA TOUR winner has played just seven official TOUR events in the previous three seasons.
If he sticks to his schedule, Woods could reach seven events in 2024. That will be contingent on how his body holds up. At the PNC Championship, Woods said his surgically repaired right ankle was pain-free, but he admitted there was some aching in other areas.
Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy concedes he has “changed his tune” on the issue of LIV golfers returning to play on the PGA Tour, with the four-time major champion now saying they should be able to come back without being punished.
The Northern Irishman has been a vocal critic of the breakaway tour since it launched in 2022 and signed up a host of big names, causing a rift that threatened to tear golf apart.
“I think life is about choices. Guys made choices to go and play LIV, guys made choices to stay here,” he told reporters ahead of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament.
“I think it’s hard to punish people. I don’t think there should be a punishment.
“If people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try and do something, let them come back.
“Obviously, I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties,” McIlroy added.
