Tiger Woods became one of us on the 18th hole at Riviera Country Club after shanking an approach from the middle of the fairway.
The 15-time major champion, but never a winner of the Genesis Invitational, attributed the miscue to back spasms as he put himself in a devilish position below some trees.
His ball skewed right, leaving little margin for error with shot three. The 48-year-old solidly recovered and made a bogey to card a 1-over-par 72.
“Oh, definitely, I shanked it,” he said after his round on Thursday.
“My back was spasming the last couple of holes and it was locking up. I came down and it didn’t move and I presented the hosel first and shanked it.”
Woods, who had 176 yards left to the putting surface after his drive, knew as soon as his club struck the ball where it was about to go, dropping his club from his hands in disbelief.
“It’s been a while, definitely been a while. Other than trying to hit flop shots and other kind of weird shots around the greens, not from the position I was at,” he added when asked about the last time he hit a shank.
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“I had a small window there, 96 front, 27 total and tried to hit a punch hook 8-iron after I just shanked an 8-iron.
“I said, all right, the next shot’s supposed to be the harder shot and yes, it was because I’m having to hit a little punch hook through a little gap there and I pulled it off, which is good.”
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Woods’ mistake on the final hole in Pacific Palisades led to his sixth bogey of the round playing alongside Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland.
However, he can take encouragement from the five birdies he made having played just the Hero World Challenge and the PNC Championship with his son on the PGA Tour since the 2023 Masters.
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He admitted to being nervous and he struggled with the pace of the greens, but in this limited field of 70 players, Woods still has a chance of making the cut for the weekend and donning his new Sun Day Red on Sunday.
“A lot of good and a lot of indifferent. It was one or the other,” he said. “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.
“I struggled with the speed of the greens. I couldn’t believe how fast they were today even though I made a couple. I ran a bunch by the hole today, it was very stressful.
“But the golf course is in such perfect shape. Considering the amount of rain they’ve gotten, to get the golf course this fast is pretty impressive.
“Definitely nervous. I care about how I play and certainly, I was feeling the nerves starting out. I got off to a good start birdieing the first and getting right back up on the next two holes and made a couple more birdies.
“It was one of those days, just never really got anything consistently going and hopefully tomorrow I can clean it up.”
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