Tiger Woods to compete in 2023 Genesis Invitational in first PGA Tour tournament since 2022 British Open

Tiger Woods is back. 15 times big winner announced on friday that he will be playing the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club next week. This will be his first start on the PGA Tour since the 2022 Open Championship in St. Andrews.

This is a bit of a surprise in Woods’ schedule, though not a complete aberration. Woods said in late 2022 that he is aiming to play a few tournaments beyond the major championships, and the one his organization hosts, certainly makes sense.

“The goal is to just play the major championships and maybe one or two more,” Woods said at the Hero World Challenge (which his foundation also hosts). “So that. , so prepare for the biggest one and hope, you know, the lightning gets into a bottle and I’m there jockeying for a chance to win and hopefully I remember how to do it.

“But again, give yourself a chance to play again. I don’t expect to play three majors this year. We were only hoping for the British Open, but I could have had two more. more awards there, so that’s a big positive.”

Woods had to withdraw from the Hero World Challenge in early December because of plantar fasciitis, but he appears to have recovered in time for the third designated PGA Tour event of the year.

“No, not yet,” Woods said at the PNC Championship in December when asked if he could predict what his 2023 schedule will look like. “Because if I don’t have this feeling in my foot, well, I can tell you that and I’ll have a better idea. But I have to rest, stretch and let it heal. But I’m not doing that at the moment.”

The last time Woods played Genesis was in 2020 when he hit 69-73-76-77 and finished 68th on the field. Days after the 2021 Genesis tournament in which he did not compete, Woods was in a near-fatal car accident in Los Angeles, which resulted in several leg injuries he has struggled with for the past few years.