LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods is, remarkably, just like the rest of us.
Woods was standing over his ball in the middle of the 18th fairway at Riviera Country Club on Thursday afternoon, preparing to hit his final approach of the day in what was his first round back on the PGA Tour in close to a year.
But instead of simply hitting it onto the green like he was supposed to — like he’s done countless times before — Woods shanked it. His ball went flying off to the right, into the trees and down into the sloped brush that sits well below the final green. The 48-year-old, 82-time Tour winner just stood there staring in total disbelief with his 8-iron laying on the ground.
Nobody, not even the great Tiger Woods, is immune.
“Oh definitely, I shanked it,” Woods said with a smile after the round.
It was his first true shank in a very, very long time.
But that’s where the relatability ended. Woods somehow managed to save himself with a wild recovery that made it through a pair of trees, over a pair of sand traps before rolling onto the back of the green. He two-putted for a bogey, which closed out his 1-over 72 to kick off the Genesis Invitational.
When he walked into the clubhouse, Woods was tied for 57th in the 70-man field. That was well behind Patrick Cantlay, who took the early lead with a 7-under 64 on Thursday.
“[It was] a lot of good and a lot of indifferent. It was one or the other,” Woods said of his round as a whole. “I don’t know how many pars I had, wasn’t many. I was either making birdies or bogeys and just never really got anything consistent going today. … It was one of those days, just never really got anything consistently going and hopefully tomorrow I can clean it up.”
For the record, Tiger carded seven pars, five birdies and six bogies. So no, consistency wasn’t his thing Thursday.
Woods didn’t have any issues walking the course throughout the day. After he underwent fusion surgery on his ankle following his withdrawal from the Masters last April, Woods said Wednesday that his ankle didn’t hurt anymore. He echoed that on Thursday after his round.
But he was still in pain, this time with back spasms hitting him during the final stretch of the round. It showed, too. Woods had to scramble plenty of times late to get himself out of trouble on the back nine. Two of his six bogies came in his final four holes.
The back issue for Woods is nothing new. He’s undergone multiple surgeries throughout his career, including a brutal fusion procedure in 2017 that’s clearly still impacting him today. While frustrated, he knew exactly why the spasms were happening Thursday.
“Because my back’s fused,” Woods said plainly while noting that they’ve happened recently at home, too.
Woods will get another shot on Friday, where he’ll need to finish inside the top 50 or within 10 shots of the lead to make the cut.
Woods has long said that his goal in 2024 is to play in about one tournament each month, which would allow him to hit all four major championships and a select few others throughout the year. Though he won’t take as long of a break before competing again the next time, Woods was rusty both physically and mentally on Thursday.
Without a consistent playing schedule like he used to have, that’s an issue Woods is going to have to try and curb sooner rather than later. Otherwise, his opening rounds this season are going to look a lot like they did on Thursday at Riviera. All over the place.
“I don’t know what that looks like. I’m hoping that’s the case, hoping that I play that much,” he said. “As far as the physical ups and downs, that’s just part of my body, that’s part of what it is. … I’m going to be rusty, and I have to do a better job at home prepping. We need to do a better job with lifting and treating and continuation of rehab protocols, all those things.
