Tiger Woods withdraws from first PGA Tour event due to illness

Tiger Woods, center, gets into a vehicle after withdrawing from the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. Woods is reported to have had flu symptoms and dehydration that required intravenous fluids. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

PACIFIC PALISADES – Tiger Woods withdrew from The Genesis Invitational Friday because of illness after hitting his tee shot on the seventh hole at The Riviera Country Club.

“He started feeling some flu-like symptoms last night,” Rob McNamara, the executive vice president of Woods’ company, TGR Ventures, told reporters. “Woke up this morning, they were worse than the night previous. He had a little bit of a fever and that, and was better during the warm-up, but then when he got out there and was walking and playing, he started feeling dizzy.

“Ultimately, the doctors are saying he’s got … potentially some type of flu and that he was dehydrated. He’s been treated with an IV bag and he’s doing much, much better and he’ll be released on his own here soon.”

McNamara said the reason for the withdrawal was “not physical at all.”“His back’s fine,” McNamara said. “It was all medical illness, dehydration, which is now the symptoms are reversing themselves now that he’s had an IV.”

Gary Woodland, one of Woods’ two playing partners Thursday and Friday, said “he obviously wasn’t himself, just didn’t look right. Saw that before the round started.”

Woods said Thursday, “My back was spasming the last couple holes and it was locking up.” Woods underwent a spinal fusion in 2017.

Woods played the first six holes at the Pacific Palisades course Friday at 1-over, birdieing the first hole and bogeying the fourth and fifth, and was at 2-over for the tournament.

Woods entered Friday’s play among 11 golfers tied for 49th at 1-over 72, eight strokes off the lead, and was in danger of missing the cut at the limited field event. The field of 70 was reduced to 51 players — the low 50 plus ties — following the conclusion of Friday’s second round.

The cut line was at 1-over 143. The field for the final two rounds would also have included any other players within 10 shots of the lead in addition to the low 50 plus ties but none were. Former UCLA standout Patrick Cantlay leads through two rounds at 13-under 129.

The Genesis Invitational, which Woods hosts, was his first official PGA Tour event since having his ankle fused last April.

When asked Thursday how his foot and ankle were, Woods responded, “Foot’s good. Leg’s a little bit sore, things are a little bit sore, but that’s to be expected. That’s nothing that we weren’t prepared for and we’ve got some work to do tonight and tomorrow.”
Woods underwent what a statement released on his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, described as a “subtalar fusion procedure to address his post-traumatic arthritis from his previous talus fracture,” on April 19.

The surgery was the latest in the series of operations Woods has undergone since suffering multiple fractures to his right leg and ankle when the SUV he was driving rolled over on a downhill slope of northbound Hawthorne Boulevard in Rancho Palos Verdes on Feb. 23, 2021, two days after the conclusion of that year’s Genesis Invitational.

It came 12 days after Woods withdrew from the Masters, his most recent PGA Tour event before Thursday, in the midst of the third round because of plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the tissue that runs across the bottom of the foot and connects the heel bone to the toes. The 2024 Genesis Invitational was the 48-year-old Woods’ sixth PGA Tour event since the crash. Only twice in those events was he able to play all 72 holes, finishing 47th in the 2022 Masters, 23 strokes behind Scottie Scheffler, and tying for 45th in last year’s Genesis Invitational, 16 strokes behind winner Jon Rahm.

In 2022, Woods was forced to withdraw from the PGA Championship after three rounds and missed the cut at the British Open.

Between his latest surgery and The Genesis Invitational, Woods played in two non-PGA Tour events, finishing 18th in a field of 20 in the Hero World Challenge Nov. 30-Dec. 3 and teaming with his then 14-year-old son Charlie to tie for fifth in the parent-and-child PNC Championship Dec. 16-17.

This was the 16th time Woods played in what is now The Genesis Invitational, including missing the cut as a 16-year-old amateur in his first appearance in 1992. The 16 starts are his most in a PGA Tour event without a victory. The closest he came to winning was in 1998, when he lost in a playoff to Billy Mayfair. The next year, he was among three golfers tied for second, two strokes behind Ernie Els.

“I have traditionally not putted well here,” Woods said Wednesday. “This is a fader’s delight, most of the holes are, for a righty, run left to right. I’ve driven it well here. There are small greens and traditionally throughout my entire career, my iron game has been pretty good, but I have never really gotten hot with the putter at this course.

“Generally, they’re bumpy poa (the type of grass on the greens at Riviera), so it’s been a little bit tricky. For some reason, it just has never compiled to a hot week.”

When asked Wednesday, “From a golf perspective, what would make this week a success?” Woods replied, “A nice `W’ would be nice, right?  Hopefully, I can figure something out and get myself in there in contention and maybe get a `W’ at the end of the week.”

The odds of a Woods victory were 125-1 entering Thursday’s play and rose to 600-1 following conclusion of the first round. Woods has not won a tournament since the 2019 Zozo Championship, his 82nd victory on the PGA Tour, tying Sam Snead for the most in history. His last top 10 finish was tying for ninth in the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open. (CNS)