Riviera has long been a tough task for Tiger
LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods made it through 16 holes of his pro-am Wednesday at Riviera Country Club on a bitterly cold morning with occasional 25 mph gusts that made the temperature feel like the upper 30s.
What mattered, at least for now, was how he finished. He didn’t play the last two holes, but after shaking hands with his amateur partners, he had no trouble climbing the 52 steps that lead to the clubhouse.
There will be no stopping Thursday during the first round of the Genesis Invitational, when Woods will compete against a full field of the world’s best players for the first time since missing the cut at the British Open last July.
The plantar fasciitis he dealt with late last year — it kept him from playing the World Challenge, the 20-player event he host in the Bahamas in December — is doing better. He said his ankle, badly injured from his February 2021 car crash near Los Angeles, is his biggest concern. There’s also that matter of rust.
“But I’ve come off a rusty situation before and I’ve done well,” Woods said during his news conference Tuesday.
He returned from knee surgery at the end of 2002 and won in his first start at San Diego’s Torrey Pines Golf Course. He once took 10 weeks off after the 2007 PGA Tour season ended and won his World Challenge by seven shots.
He was younger, healthier and in his prime. Now, at age 47, his swing looks as efficient as ever, particularly with his irons. For Woods, it’s about getting to the next shot on a pair of legs that have been battered over the years.
And then there’s the matter of the golf course.
Riviera is among his favorite designs, but the love affair ends there. Woods stopped playing the PGA Tour event at this course after 2006, primarily because he rarely had good results. The 15-time major champion alluded to that when he talked about his preparation for this year’s event.
“I know this golf course,” he said, pausing to smile before adding, “I know I haven’t had a lot of success on this golf course. But I knew what to practice for, shots to hit at home getting ready.”
It really is a mystery. Woods has never played more times on a PGA Tour course without winning — 11 appearances at Riviera as a pro, with only one legitimate chance at victory in the end. That was in 1999, when he tied for second, two shots behind Ernie Els.
Most telling was his greatest stretch in golf. From the end of August 1999 through March the following year, Woods either won or finished second in 10 out of the 11 PGA Tour events he played.
The exception? He tied for 18th at Riviera.
“This may be an anomaly, and the only one in his whole career maybe,” said 42-year-old Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion who has two wins and two runner-up finishes at Riviera. “It’s a little bit unexplainable. I don’t know what to say about that. Over his career, there’s been only strengths, really. This course is quite demanding from the second shot in, and he’s certainly capable of handling it.
“I don’t know if he just doesn’t feel it here or what it is. But I’ll share some tips with him if he shares some tips on how to win a few majors with me.”
The challenge for everyone Wednesday was the cold and wind, though that might be the worst of it. It was gusting to 25 mph in the morning. Woods hit a driver and a fairway metal into the frigid wind on the 458-yard ninth hole and plugged in a front bunker, some 10 yards short of reaching the green.
That elicited little more than a laugh, and another chuckle followed when he blasted out right as a ball from one of his amateurs zipped near his legs and into the bunker.
“Lot going on here,” Woods said.
All four Baylor School graduates on the PGA Tour — Harris English, Stephan Jaeger, Luke List and Keith Mitchell — will take part in what is the strongest field of the year to date with a $20 million purse, though Riviera is so pure it always attracted the best players.
This year, 19 of the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking are playing (Woods is currently No. 1,294), with the exception Cameron Smith, who is suspended from the PGA Tour for signing with the rival LIV Golf League.
Also missing is reigning tourney champ Joaquin Niemann, who joined LIV in August. As host, Woods presented Niemann with the Genesis Invitational trophy last year. He would like to take home the trophy himself, even against such long odds.
Max Homa received the trophy from Woods two years ago, one of the best memories he’s ever had as a guy who grew up in the L.A. area and who grew up idolizing Woods.
How to explain Woods not winning at Riviera given his sublime iron play? Homa found himself trying to answer that while playing the course Wednesday.
“It makes absolutely no sense,” Homa said.
He thought about courses Woods has dominated, such as Bay Hill, where the second shot is so critical, just as it is at Riviera. Woods has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational eight times at that Florida course.
“So when you come here … I would have thought he won 10 times,” Homa said. “That one’s a mystery to me. This seems like it would be a playground to him.”