SAN DIEGO — Tiger Woods committed Friday to playing the Genesis Invitational next week at Torrey Pines, returning to one of his favorite venues for his first PGA Tour start since the British Open last July.
Woods will be playing — and walking — 18 holes in competition for the first time since he had a microdiscectomy in September to alleviate pain down his legs, his sixth surgery on his lower back. He will compete just more than a week after the loss of his mother, Kultida Woods, who died Tuesday at age 80.
Woods is also the host of the Genesis Invitational, which was moved down the California coast from Riviera Country Club because of wildfires that devastated the surrounding Los Angeles community of Pacific Palisades.
He has never won at Riviera, but his eight wins at San Diego’s Torrey Pines include the 2008 U.S. Open. The public course along the Pacific Ocean is also the site of his most recent top-10 finish on the PGA Tour, a tie for ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open in 2020.
The Genesis Invitational is a limited-field signature event with no cut. Woods hasn’t played four rounds in a single tournament since last year’s Masters, when he broke the tournament record for consecutive cuts made with his 24th. He finished last among those who made the cut, shooting 82-77 over the weekend. He played the other three major championships last year, missing the cut each time at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open.