Tiger Woods has confirmed his participation at next week’s Genesis invitational. The news had been widely anticipated, with Woods outlining his ambitions for 2024 at November’s Hero World Challenge.
Back then, the 15-time Major winner revealed an ideal scenario would see him play approximately a tournament a month, and specified the Genesis Invitational as a possible starting point.
He told the media at the time: “I think that best scenario would be maybe a tournament a month. I think that's realistic whether that's - you would have to start with maybe at Genesis and something in March near The Players.”
Then, in January, in a statement confirming his split with Nike after 27 years, he teased that his next appearance would be at the Riviera Country Club event by signing off with: “See you in LA!”
One reason why the tournament offers the ideal way for Woods to ease himself into the year is his association with it as its host. The event also marked his first appearance of 2023.
His starts leading up to that had been sporadic as he tried to overcome ongoing issues with his right leg following a car accident two years earlier. To make matters worse, he also had to withdraw from the 2022 Hero World Challenge due to plantar fasciitis.
Therefore, it was encouraging to see him put in a competitive performance in LA last year with a T45. While that led to high hopes that Woods would go on to compete at all four of last year’s Majors, it wasn’t to be.
He had to withdraw from the third round of The Masters with his ankle clearly bothering him and, days later, he underwent subtalar fusion surgery on the injury, which kept him sidelined until November's event in the Bahamas.
Woods has since declared his ankle “pain-free,” and is now prepared to put it to the test at one of the PGA Tour’s signature events. It promises to be a big few days for Woods in another way, too. This week, he also teased the imminent announcement of a potential new “Sunday red” brand.
With everything lining up nicely for Woods' return to action, there is once again anticipation that the tournament will be just the start of a busy year on the course for the 48-year-old.
