At The Genesis Invitational, Tiger Woods threw away a shot on the eighteenth hole, saying that his back had cramped up and the ball had gone into the trees in front of onlookers.
Tiger Woods demonstrated that he is not all that dissimilar from an ordinary golfer. The 48-year-old got off to a strong start on the last hole in the opening round of The Genesis Invitational in Pacific Palisades, California.
On his subsequent try, though, Woods mishandled the ball and sent it flying 71 yards and straight into the trees in front of some onlookers. The legendary golfer was left with no choice but to drop his club in shock and stand motionless for a few moments, as if processing everything that had just occurred.
Woods calmed down and proceeded to the location of his ball. He then hit his third shot from the tree line to 15 feet, making the two-putt bogey. At 1-over 72 at the end of the first round, Woods was eight strokes behind leader Patrick Cantlay and tied for 53rd place with players like Justin Thomas.
After the round, Woods gave reporters a detailed explanation of what went wrong with his mishandled swing. The legend explained his shank, saying, “Well, my back was spasming the last couple holes.” “It was also locking up. When I descended, it remained in place. And I shanked the hosel after presenting it first.”
In response to a question about how long he had gone without shanking a ball, Woods said it had been “a while” since then. He remarked, “It’s been a while.” “Not from where I was at, other than trying to hit flop shots and other kind of weird shots around the greens.”
Woods’s last Tour start came at the Masters last year, so some sort of error owing to rust and a minor injury is to be expected. After withdrawing from the competition in the third round, he had ankle surgery, which kept him out of action until December.
In the Hero World Challenge held in the Bahamas, he participated and placed eighteenth, ahead of only Wyndham Clark and Will Zalatoris. After that, Woods and his son Charlie participated in the PNC Championship, where they tied for fifth place.
Even though he hasn’t played much in the past year, Woods made sure to inform his colleagues that he intends to break the tie with Sam Snead for the most all-time titles by winning his 83rd PGA Tour championship at Riviera. Though Woods was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, he had never won at Riviera and was hoping to change that this year.
“It would be nice to [win]. Woods stated prior to the event commencing. “This event has never been won by me. I have participated in this competition since 1992, but despite my participation, I have never taken first place. I’m hoping to work things out, put myself in the running, and perhaps end up with a win by the end of the week.”
With great hopes, Woods stated that his surgically repaired ankle was fine and that he would just need to learn how to live with his new body. Before the tournament began, Woods stated, “Yeah, my ankle doesn’t hurt anymore because no bones are rubbing anymore.”
Nevertheless, things are different. My body has to bear the brunt of it on other parts. Similar to how my back is fused, other body parts bear the brunt of that. My body has fused two separate parts together. Yes, other bodily parts also need to adjust.”
It makes sense why he missed a shot given how much his body has changed and how he has had to modify his playing style. However, Woods will need to play almost flawless golf to win The Genesis for the first time.
Leave a Reply