One of the biggest weeks in recent golf history just got even bigger thanks, of course, to Tiger Woods.
Woods on Friday announced he’ll make his PGA Tour return next week at the Genesis Invitational, a tournament he hosts at the famous Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.
“I’m ready to play an ACTUAL PGA Tour event next week,” Woods said in a tweet Friday.
It will be Woods’ first competitive start since The Open Championship at St. Andrews in July. It’s his first taste of PGA Tour play since the limited-field ZOZO Championship in October 2020, and it’s his first full-field appearance since the BMW Championship in August 2020.
While Woods is probably more motivated to play the Genesis than any other non-major, this is still a massive development for the former world No. 1. Woods labored through three majors last year, still making the cut at the Masters and PGA Championship, in his first competitive golf since nearly losing his leg in a car crash in 2021. That awful event coincidentally came the week after the Genesis.
Woods endured a grueling rehab just to get back walking, and returning to play was impressive on its own. But that Woods feels healthy enough to play a non-major, especially at a hilly course like Riviera, does bode well for him moving forward. He spoke at the majors last year about the difficulty of just showing up and playing the most competitive tournaments in the world with a whole bunch of rust in addition to lingering pain from the leg injuries.
Woods’ return comes at a huge point for the Tour, too. The Genesis is one of the Tour’s new designated events, as is this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. Not only that, Netflix on Wednesday will release its new documentary series about the 2022 professional golf season. All of that paired with Woods’ return certainly gives the Tour plenty of momentum as it begins its biggest stretch of the season, including The Players Championship in March and the Masters in April.
