Rejuvenated Woods hoping for a happy homecoming
Considering it feels as if Tiger Woods is at the start of his second, perhaps third, career, it seems apt that the 42-year-old is returning to Riviera Country Club, the Los Angeles course that played such a role in his formative years.
Growing up, Woods lived near to the course, which, situated on Sunset Boulevard, has golf ’s most spectacular address. He would often play there as a child and in LA Open week, would stand in the galleries.
“I first attended the tournament when I was nine or 10; my dad took me there,” Woods recalled. “We went a few more times, and then I tried to qualify a couple times.” He came close, but eventually the burgeoning celebrity of South California’s wonderkid earned him a sponsor’s invite as a 16-year-old.
Peter Oosterhuis was the Riviera director of golf at the time and recalls the prodigy arriving for a practice round.
“My first impression was, ‘This kid is focused’ ” Oosterhuis said. “He was polite but talked very little. He hit the ball a mile, he hit it high and he knew what he was doing. He was the most confident 16-year-old I’d ever seen.” The word was out, huge crowds duly turned up and the skinny high-school kid wowed them all with his elastic swing and fearless approach. In the event, Woods fared commendably with a 72, 75. However, after announcing that he felt “pretty good” with his performance, he was stunned to see he had missed the cut. “I looked at the leaderboard and I was 17 strokes behind Davis Love,” Woods said. “It was eye-opening knowing that I was really not that good.” Of course, half a decade later he proved he had made up all this ground, and acres more, as he won the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes and he proceeded to prevail wherever he turned up. However, he never did at Riviera. The last time he played there was 2007. But now that the tournament benefits Woods’s charitable foundation, he is obliged to enter and was due to play last year until ongoing back problems forced his withdrawal. Ironically, in his new guise as a veteran golfer with a fused spine, this tight track, where the emphasis is on strategy as much as power, should suit him more than ever before. And despite the field boasting world No1 Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy, after making the cut at Torrey Pines two weeks ago, he will be confident of the week representing so much more than a trip down memory fairway. “I’ve had several chances to win at Riviera, but just haven’t gotten it done,” Woods said. “It would mean a lot to me, even more now as tournament host.”