LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods will play alongside fellow Major winners Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland in the first two rounds of the Feb 15-18 Genesis Invitational at Riviera, where he is competing on the PGA Tour for the first time since last April.
The trio will head out on Feb 15 at 9.25am local time (Feb 16, 1.25am Singapore time) and at 11.54am (Feb 17, 3.54am) for Friday’s second round, according to the groupings and tee times released.
Woods, 48, is serving as a tournament host this week and has given himself a sponsor exemption, while also issuing exemptions to fellow American Will Zalatoris, 2019 US Open winner Woodland and Adam Scott.
The PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council chairman Scott returns to Riviera Country Club – where the Australian has won twice and has recorded seven top 10s during his illustrious career.
“It’s always a highlight of my year playing here. I love this track, and I love this event. It’s my favourite event I play on tour, so I’m so thankful to be a sponsor’s invite and get the chance to have another go around Riviera,” the 2013 Masters champion said.
“I can’t remember exactly when my last sponsor’s invite was. I probably have been invited to a tournament in Asia... but, on the PGA Tour, it’s been a while, that’s for sure. I feel lucky that I’ve got one of them. If I didn’t, then I didn’t qualify. So that’s how it goes. I don’t expect to be invited to every tournament I ask for either, but I am very happy to be here... Hopefully, I make the most of it.”
Woods, who will be sporting apparel from his new Sun Day Red apparel brand this week, has not played a PGA Tour event since last April’s Masters, where he made the cut but withdrew before completing the third round because of plantar fasciitis.
The 15-time Major champion had ankle surgery later that month and returned only at the end of November in an unofficial PGA Tour event – the Hero World Challenge – which featured a limited field and no cut. He went one under par through four rounds and finished in a share of 45th place at Riviera in 2023.
The Genesis Invitational is one of the PGA Tour’s eight signature events in 2024 and features a halfway cut, and US$20 million (S$27 million) purse, including US$4 million for the winner.
The tournament has a stellar line-up with all the world’s top 10 – Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick and Brian Harman – except 2023 winner Jon Rahm competing. REUTERS
