Tiger Woods had an impressive start to the 2023 Genesis Invitational in the opening round on Thursday, when he hit a 2 under 69 in his first appearance at a regular PGA Tour event since 2020. Mid After his strong first-round performance, Woods decided to prank his playmate and longtime friend Justin Thomas, handing Thomas a tampon after passing him on the ninth hole.
Thomas can be seen taking the tampon from Woods while the two laugh together. Thomas threw away the tampon immediately as they walked out of the teeing ground together.
After the second round on Friday, Woods issued an apology for his actions.
“It was supposed to be a fun game, but obviously it didn’t turn out that way. If I’ve offended anyone in any way, I’m sorry.” Woods said on Friday. “It wasn’t meant to be. We were always playing pranks on each other. In terms of virality, it didn’t happen that way.”
The prank led to a lot of criticism directed at Woods.
Woods finished his round with birdies on each of the last three holes at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. The Genesis Invitational marks Woods’ first time entering the tournament in general since the 2022 Open Championship in St. Andrew’s, in which he finished +9 and failed to qualify.
The 15-time major champion has been away from golf for a while as he continues to recover from a leg injury he sustained in a car crash in February 2021.
Despite the joke, Woods got plenty of support from the crowd at the Riviera Country Club as some chants of “Ti-ger” broke out throughout the day. He ended the day underperforming leaders Max Homa and Keith Mitchell by five shots.
