Tiger Woods is one of us! OK he’s really not, but at least for a few fleeting moments on Thursday, we could feel like he was. Tiger was making his first official PGA Tour start since withdrawing from last year’s Masters, and although he had a roller-coaster round at Riviera, the 15-time major champ no doubt endeared himself to the gallery in attendance and the millions watching.
First of all, to set the tone for the first round, Tiger reached into his Monster logo bag — as if taking one of those to the face wouldn’t be enough to get you going in the morning — and dug out what looked to be a ZYN nicotine pouch.
Alas, upon closer inspection, it would appear that Tiger skipped out on the morning cup o’ joe in favor of a caffeinated lip:
Hell yeah, Tiger. You just became more relatable on that move alone, at least to me. If I had an early tee time, I would also not want to rush my way through a full-on cup of coffee. First of all, it’s a diuretic that goes straight through me. Then there’s the danger that the liquid beverage triggers a massive No. 2. Excellent pre-round strategy. You can tell Tiger is keeping up with the times.
And wouldn’t you know it? On the par-5 opening hole, that lip of coffee buzzed just right. Tiger overcame a tee shot to the right rough and scrambled his way to a birdie.
Consistency proved elusive from there, however. He hit only 10 of 18 greens, and made six bogeys to five birdies. None of his dropped shots were more eventful than what occurred at the last hole, when Tiger hit one of the bigger shanks my eyes have ever seen.
Hosel rocket alert.
Now to be fair to Tiger, he explained afterwards that he was suffering back spasms on the final few holes, and on that particular shot, it gave out on him.
Makes it all the more impressive that he managed such an extraordinary recovery shot from between the trees — or, dare I say it: the…Woods?
If you want some more silver linings from Tiger’s return, get a load of these:
It’s clear the man still loves to compete, still knows how to get his way around a course, and has the firepower to compete with the best, despite admitting to some struggles with speed control on the greens. Of course he’s going to be a little rusty. While it makes sense that Tiger would return to the Genesis Open, a tournament he hosts in his native California, he’s never won this event, so it’s not like a little bit of struggling around this track is necessarily a bad omen. In fact, Tiger is challenging himself if anything on a course that doesn’t quite suit his eye to the tune of victory.
Alright well, now that Tiger has said his back was acting up on him, poking fun at the shank isn’t quite as enjoyable. Oh well. I can imagine he’s heard far worse over the years. Plus, on the relatable front, anyone north of 30 years old who golf fairly often has, in all likelihood, had some type of back issue or soreness act up at one point or another. Anyway, here are some reactions from the shot that made the rest of us weekend warriors or worse feel a tad better about ourselves.
