LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods ducked into the clubhouse for a bathroom break after finishing nine holes Friday. While his sizable gallery waited for him to return to the next tee, spectators couldn't resist attempting humor.
A day earlier Woods was caught on video trying to hand playing partner Justin Thomas a tampon after Woods outdrove him on the ninth hole. Thomas slapped it to the ground and Woods laughed and playfully put his arm around Thomas' shoulder as they walked down the fairway.
The storyline of Woods unexpectedly playing in the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club — a tournament where is he host and on a course where he's never won — had taken a childish, even sexist, turn.
After shooting a three-over-par 74 that put him at one over for the tournament, Woods issued an apology and quasi-explanation.
"Yeah, it was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn't turned out that way," he said.
"If I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I'm sorry. It was not intended to be that way. It was just, we play pranks on one another all the time and virally I think this did not come across that way, but between us, it was — it's different."
Woods, 47, has a 15-year-old daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, who plays soccer. His TGR Foundation, which is partially funded by the Genesis Invitational, professes on its website to "equip young people with the tools and support they need to discover their passions, deepen their knowledge and gain real-world experiences on their path to achieve their dreams."
As for his round, Woods putted poorly early and bogeyed the last two holes to put himself in jeopardy of not making the cut. He missed four birdie putts in his first seven holes, following excellent approach shots with disaster on the greens.
"I probably should have shot five or six better than this easily," he said. "Just didn't make the putts early and the middle part of the round when I had those opportunities. And they weren't very hard putts, I just hit bad putts and obviously had a very bad finish, too."
Woods' putter is his most famous club, a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS nicknamed the "cherry bomb" because of distinctive red circles on the front heel and rear cavity. It's 24 years old and he's used it in 14 of his 15 majors victories and 66 of his 82 PGA Tour wins.
It betrayed him Friday though, and eventually the rest of his game followed suit. It took him four shots to reach the greens on each of the last two holes.
"I could have easily got off to a very hot start and I did not, and then middle part of the round I could have turned it around a little bit and I did not," he said.
