Tiger Woods’ latest return to competitive golf ended with a withdrawal seven holes into his second round, but rather than pain or a new injury holding him back, the 15-time major champion had to drop out due to illness.
Woods withdrew from the Genesis Invitational, the tournament he hosts, after experiencing flu-like symptoms on Friday afternoon in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
The 48-year-old hadn’t played an official PGA Tour event since the Masters 10 months ago, when he withdrew before undergoing ankle surgery. After shooting a 1-over 72 on Thursday, he admitted to reporters he was dealing with back spasms along with soreness in his surgically repaired leg.
Woods opened Friday’s round with a birdie and made consecutive bogeys at Nos. 4-5. After saving par at the par-3 sixth and hitting his drive at the par-4 seventh, the Golf Channel broadcast showed a rules official driving Woods off the course on a cart.
Even after the PGA Tour confirmed Woods’ withdrawal, speculation grew when fire and paramedic trucks were seen outside the Riviera clubhouse. But Woods did not leave in one of those trucks, and he was later seen leaving the property in a normal tournament vehicle.
Rob McNamara, Woods’ friend and business partner, provided brief details.
“So he started feeling some flu-like symptoms last night,” McNamara said. “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 some -- 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 Woods’ back was fine and the symptoms “are reversing themselves now that he’s had an IV.”
The withdrawal puts a damper on the golf star’s latest attempted comeback. After a series of injuries, including a single-car accident that nearly cost him his leg in 2021, Woods has said that playing one tournament a month was a reasonable goal for this point in his career.
This is the third time Woods has withdrawn in six official PGA Tour starts since the 2021 accident. He dropped out of the 2022 PGA Championship after 54 holes and didn’t return to finish his third round at the rain-soaked 2023 Masters.
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