Understandably, that makes it all deeply satisfying to Jon Rahm for what he accomplished during this phenomenal and entertaining stretch that began in the first week of January on the PGA Tour.

When the 28-year-old Spaniard made two birdies over the last four holes on Sunday to close with a two-under-par 69 and overcome LA hero Max Homa to win his first Genesis Invitational at 17-under, he could not only lay claim to the title of this swing’s runaway star, but also the most formidable player to contend with in the foreseeable future.

Yes, Scottie Scheffler, with his victory last week in the WM Phoenix Open, and Rory McIlroy have both been World No. 1 in this calendar year, but it’s Rahm who clearly is the sport’s most dominant figure, now having won five times in his last nine worldwide starts. Incredibly, he hasn’t finished worse than a tie for eighth in the last 10 times he officially teed it up. (In the super-charged field this week at Riviera Country Club, Scheffler tied for 12th and McIlroy was T-29.)

“It’s the beauty of the year that we’re living right now,” Rahm said after accepting a $3.6 million winner’s cheque. “It’s exciting for us to play and exciting for the golf fans because things like this can happen.”

The milestones just keep piling up for Rahm. He is the first Spaniard to win at Riviera, and he passed the countryman he idolised, Seve Ballesteros, with his 10th win on the PGA Tour. (Seve won nine times in his limited play on the American circuit.)

Rahm is the quickest to reach three wins in a calendar year since California golden boy Johnny Miller did so in 1975, and, as he pointed out, he’d never won three times in a season, and now he’s done so with six months of competition — and all four majors — still to come.

“I’ve won five out of my last nine starts; I haven’t finished worse than top-seven [in the last five starts], and I’ve won three tournaments already,” Rahm said. “I don’t need a ranking to … validate anything, right? Having the best season of my life and hopefully I can keep it going.”

In beating most of the best players in the world in a newly “designated” event that featured most of the best players in the world vying for a $20 million purse, Rahm ended up on Sunday contending with both Homa and his fervent LA backers. When Rahm hit a great shot, he heard: “Let’s go Max!” a few seconds after. And when he suffered a couple of missteps, there were slightly mocking “oooohs”.

If Rahm was going to win, he would have to steel himself from within, and he did so impressively.

After surrendering a three-shot lead through 10 holes and falling behind by one after three-putting 12, Rahm responded by making an excellent par save from a dusty wash at the 13th hole, followed by a pair of 2s on the back-nine par 3s.

Homa bogeyed the 13th following a wayward drive to drop back into a tie, and then, like a visiting batter hitting a late go-ahead homer at Dodger Stadium, Rahm quieted the rowdy gallery by making a 46-foot birdie putt at No. 14 and stuffed his 8-iron tee shot at 16 to three feet.

Last 13 worldwide starts for @JonRahmPGA ?

1st ?
3rd
T7
1st ?
1st ?
T8
1st ?
T4
1st ?
T2
T15
T8
T5 pic.twitter.com/1Ftb6fwdFj

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 20, 2023

Homa, who beat a seventh-place Rahm in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines three weeks ago, couldn’t answer with any charge and made par on his final five holes. He did manage to secure a nervy 4 on 18 to score one better than Rahm for the day — 68 — and placed two back in solo second. That gave Homa a nice consolation check of $2,180,000. Patrick Cantlay (67) finished third and made $1,380,000, and Will Zalatoris charged with a 64 for solo fourth ($980,000).

“I think everybody’s head was in very different spots during the day,” Rahm said. “If you tell me on the ninth tee after that tee shot that I was going to be one back on 13 tee, I wouldn’t believe you because I was feeling that good. But it’s golf, and this golf course especially can get you.

“I think I’m just more proud of myself of kind of resetting when things got difficult. On that 13th tee, hitting a bad tee shot and just kind of resetting and knowing that if I were to somehow save par there and finish the last five-under par, I was most likely going to be the champion.”

It was curious that Rahm ended up winning with back-nine birdies on the par 3s, considering he forged most of his advantage by going 10-under on the par 5s for the week. Homa, meantime, was only four-under on the longest holes while leading the field in strokes gained/putting. Rahm was the week’s best ball striker, ranking first by gaining 11.92 strokes on approach.

Roars for Rahm ?@JonRahmPGA is back on top @TheGenesisInv. pic.twitter.com/nPiUxEWSO0

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 19, 2023

Asked about what has changed from when he hit some doldrums last summer and didn’t seriously contend in any of the majors, Rahm held up his right hand and spread his thumb and index figure about an inch apart.

“It’s a combination of things, but I’m talking about such a small difference, and I felt like I was playing good enough to shoot the scores that I knew I could shoot; it just wasn’t happening,” said Rahm, further noting that his putting and wedge play improved.

There may be other factors, too. Rahm’s son Kepa will be 2 in April, and his wife, Kelley, gave birth to their son Eneko last August. If Rahm could seem tightly wound and easily frustrated before, he believes that kids have changed his outlook. He recounted on Sunday how he went back to his family on Saturday night and most of the jitters for the final round were soothed by playtime and a bath for his Kepa.

“Ever since they came along, going home after a golf tournament and a golf round is a lot easier just because of things like that,” Rahm said. “He’s playing with his trucks, feeding him … just all those moments where he’s smiling and so happy is so heartwarming — that what happens on the golf course kind of seems, it’s very minimised, right? It’s not nearly as satisfying as that is.”

The wonderful thing for Jon Rahm right now is that he’s got the best of both worlds.

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Woods’ score at the time? One-under for the tournament, two-over for the day. It pulled him within 15 shots of Jon Rahm’s lead.

Of course, that mattered very little on Sunday at the Genesis Invitational, and it matters very little in every official PGA Tour round Woods tees it up in. Yes, some would love to see him shoot lower scores. To see him truly in the mix again. To see him raise an 83rd trophy, as unrealistic as that is. But for now, a 30-foot birdie putt that salvaged an otherwise pedestrian round will have to do.

Woods, 47, turned up at Riviera this week having not played a real competitive round since the Open Championship last July. He winced. He perspired. He trudged up every hill that required trudging. He finished all four rounds with a broken body because he doesn’t know how to do it any other way. This is how it is now. He’s never going to feel good, but maybe just one week he’ll feel good enough to shock the world once more. Ultimately, this week, he finished with a two-over 73, putting him at one-under overall, tied for 45th. It’s not the result he wanted, but it’s the one he produced despite all evidence pointing to him missing the cut. Even he knows that’s progress, as much as it pains him to say it.

“It was progress, but obviously I didn’t win,” said Woods. “My streak continues here at Riv.”

That “streak” is his losing streak at the iconic LA venue, a place where Woods has somehow never won despite the fact he’s won just about everywhere on the planet. He’s now 0-for-14 at the course he famously made his PGA Tour debut at as a 16-year-old in 1992.

“I felt like the first couple days I left certainly a lot of shots out there with some putts, especially Friday when I was blocking everything,” Woods said. “Yesterday was better. Still wish I could have gotten within a touch of the leaders, but today they’re running away with it. Even with a good round yesterday I wouldn’t have been in touch today.”

Woods left a number of putts out there on Sunday, too, normally a telltale sign of competitive rust. Even as the incredible preparer he is, it’s just not possible to replicate tournament conditions back at home.

“Even if I played four days at home, it’s not the same adrenaline,” the 15-time major champion said. “It’s not the same as the system being ramped up like that, the intensity, just the focus that it takes to play at this level. No matter how much — I’m very good at simulating that at home, but it’s just not the same as being out here and doing it.”

This leads to the obvious question of, when will Woods get back out there and do it again? He’s mentioned many times over the last year that he’ll likely only play the majors and maybe a few other tournaments. The Genesis is already one of those “others” now, and he didn’t sound like a man ready to add another “other” to his schedule before the Masters in April.

“Here’s the deal: Like I told you guys last year, I’m not going to play any more than probably the majors and maybe a couple more,” he said. “That’s it, that’s all my body will allow me to do. My back the way it is, all the surgeries I had on my back, my leg the way it is, I just can’t. That’s just going to be my future.

“So my intent last year was to play in all four majors, I got three of the four. Hopefully this year I can get all four and maybe sprinkle in a few here and there. But that’s it for the rest of my career. I know that and I understand that. That’s just my reality.”

Technically, Woods didn’t rule out the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, a tournament he’s won eight times. Or the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, a tricky but flat and walkable course for the old goat. Those are also a pair of “elevated events”, an idea Woods had a hand in developing. Knowing how firmly on the side of the PGA Tour he is in the PGA Tour v LIV saga, it would be massive to see him turn up again once on the Florida Swing.

Given how he looked and sounded on Sunday afternoon, however, it just doesn’t appear likely.

“I can do carts at home, I can do that, I can hit balls, chip and putt,” Woods said. “But as I said, it’s time or attention and getting your eight to 10 miles of walking in and the concentration that it takes. Yeah, it’s hard. I’ve done it for a long time, but it’s just not—the body sometimes, it says no even though the mind says yes.”

The mind and body will both say yes to Augusta National in April, that much we know. We also know there will be roars, and it still will not matter what his score is or how he’s producing them.

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“Tiger’s coming!”

Good point, kid. But the question is, at one-over par and right on the projected 36-hole cut line, will Woods stay around for the weekend rounds at Riviera Country Club? It’s (very) likely, but he’ll have to wait.

Play was suspended at 5.39pm on Friday and 14 players will need to finish their second rounds Saturday morning. Only then will Woods get confirmation of playing weekend golf for the first time since last May’s PGA Championship.

Woods, the 15-time major winner doubling as tournament host, shot a three-over 74 at Riviera to drop from a promising two-under-par to one over. Teeing off No. 10 on Friday morning, Woods battled to an even par on the front nine with birdies at the par-3 14th and par-5 17th. But the 82-time PGA Tour winner made sloppy mistakes on his back nine. Among those was putting it straight into the famed bunker in the middle of the green on the par-3 sixth, one of three back-nine bogeys that halted his momentum.

“If I chipped it up on top, there’s a chance that it could actually come back to the front part of the green,” Woods said of the decision to putt around, rather than chip it over, the bunker. “So I did that. I was trying to give myself a chance at making par and at worst bogey.”

Woods also made bogeys at No. 8, where he drove it into a fairway bunker, and No. 9, where he left his approach short into the greenside bunker and failed to save par. He ranked near the bottom of the leaderboard for strokes gained/putting on Friday, with his 36 putts covering a total of just 55 feet.

“I just blocked the [putts]; they were just bad putts,” he said. “They were not very hard, I had good reads. I brought [caddie] Joey [LaCava] in on a couple of them, and I just hit bad putts. So I could have easily got off to a very hot start and I did not. Then the middle part of the round I could have turned it around a little bit, and I did not.”

Woods finished nine shots off the lead Friday night, after 2021 Genesis champion Max Homa carded a 68 to take the outright lead. He’s 10-under, while Keith Mitchell (69), Jon Rahm (68) and Lee Hodges (66) are a shot back at nine under.

Woods is all but assured of making the cut, although six players who are close to either side of the cut line, and who will finish their rounds on Saturday morning, could technically bring the cut back to even par and send Woods home.

The top 65 players and ties make the cut.

Woods has not played weekend golf since the Saturday of last year’s PGA Championship, when he made the cut at Southern Hills only to withdraw injured before the final round. He played the Open Championship at St Andrews in July but didn’t advance past the second round. The 47-year-old Woods was involved in a single-car crash in 2021, which severely injured his right leg, then took seven months off after the Open to heal from plantar fasciitis.

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The “look” was absolutely priceless. Anybody who’s ever topped a buddy’s birdie with their own to win a buck or two would recognize the pure joy in the slightest of smiles. That was the silent exchange that took place between Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas on the 18th green Thursday at Riviera.

The setting was this: Woods, Thomas and Rory McIlroy arrived at the closing hole of their first round in the Genesis Invitational, all at under par for the day and grinding to finish as high as they could on the board. Woods was coming off two straight birdies; Thomas had birdied 17; and McIlroy had the best score at three under, even after burning the edge with his birdie putt on the previous hole.

As they approached Riviera’s famous last green and sunlit clubhouse in the background, Thomas missed the green in the right fringe, while McIlroy and Woods drew roars with approaches to makeable birdie range.

Justin Thomas after making a birdie putt on the 18th hole. Ben Jared

MORE: Homa’s very good hole out and the Kuchars are everywhere

Thomas played first, and he watched intently as his 28-foot putt rolled in for a 3 that finished off a three-under 68. Badly wanting to match, Woods carefully stalked his 7½-footer and his roll found the heart of the cup to complete his rally to a 69. The crowd burst into cheers and Tiger offered a small fist pump. But the classic moment came when Woods sidled up near JT at the side of the green and flashed him the “look.”

This look between Tiger and JT ? pic.twitter.com/qnF2roCSIZ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 17, 2023

It was one of those athlete-to-athlete moments that will make us smile for a long time.

Fittingly, the fun wasn’t over. McIlroy produced the best approach to six feet, and though he let a few strokes getaway on the greens, he had no trouble making it a trifecta of birds for the group.

“JT hoops one in there and Rory’s been beating us all day,” Woods recounted later. “He’s nervous as can be because he didn’t want to be the one to miss on 18. I didn’t want to be the idiot host to miss it right in front of everybody after I just went birdie-birdie.”

For the day’s Super Group, it was a super satisfying ending.

RELATED: Woods’ stunning late rally caps fun return to Riviera in the Genesis Invitational

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The young woman standing at Riviera Country Club’s rope line on Thursday shielded her eyes from the sun and peered into the distance at the three figures standing on the secluded seventh tee box. “Who else is in Rory’s group?” she asked, probably a bit louder than she should have. A few snickers and indignant harumphs followed, and then someone offered quietly, “Tiger.”

She was embarrassed, to be sure, but hardly horrified at the gaffe. Blame it on the glare, or the fact that Tiger Woods wasn’t donning a red shirt, or that he was limping, or that he’d been gone for 844 days from regular PGA Tour competition. Golf moves on, and Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler are now the outlines that people recognize just as well from a distance.

We’ve got to ease our way back into the notion that Woods still has the competitive drive to show up out here.

In the first round of the Genesis Invitational that Woods hosts, at high noon, the 47-year-old was the last of his threesome to make the short walk from the putting green to the first tee. Justin Thomas arrived, followed by McIlroy, and if the cheers and chants for Woods were hearty, they were hardly much louder.

It was a lively and big crowd gathered in front of the iconic clubhouse and lined the first hole, but it wasn’t the zoo that some might have expected. And after his tee shot with a fairway wood found the right rough and Woods gingerly made his way down the steep wooden steps, the gallery thinned.

Tiger Woods reacts after making birdie on the 18th green during the first round of the Genesis Invitational. Michael Owens

There was a buzz, to be sure, as Woods made his way around the historic layout, but nothing that came close to rivalling his heyday. Even when Woods made a third straight birdie at the 18th hole to shoot a hard-fought two-under-par 69—five shots more than leaders Max Homa and Keith Mitchell—Riviera’s grassy amphitheatre was only about half full.

Now, this was a Thursday in the big city after all. If come Sunday Woods is anywhere near contention in pursuit of record tour win No. 83, Dodgers-in-the-World-Series pandemonium may ensue.

For now, being tied for 27th place (with a couple of groups still to finish Round 1) is an extremely promising return for the man who hadn’t played a competitive round since bidding a Friday farewell while missing the cut in last July’s Open Championship at St. Andrews.

Woods joined McIlroy and Thomas as the trio birdied the easy, par-5 first hole, but he made only one birdie against three bogeys over the next 14 holes. Then, when we might expect him to be tired and sore, Woods rallied by rolling in birdies of five feet at the par-3 16th, 23 feet at the par-5 17th and seven feet at the famous uphill par-4 finisher.

It was a jolly threesome that walked off the 18th, because Thomas, who shot 68, chipped in for birdie and McIlroy (67) drained a five-footer for birdie. They exchanged hugs and hand slaps like they’d won the Riviera member-guest.

Birdie
Birdie
Birdie@TigerWoods closes out his first round @TheGenesisInv in style. pic.twitter.com/aBmxuBak0w

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 17, 2023

“Ebbs and flows,” Woods concluded afterwards. “It was nice that I had this unbelievable pairing—two great guys, two great friends. The people were obviously very supportive; they were just cheering all of us on, which is great. [It] just made this whole tournament better.

“I happened to actually hit some good shots finally and made a couple of putts. … It was a nice finish.”

For those looking for encouragement from this outing, beyond the closing birdie barrage, Woods’ gait looked better than it did when he played, riding in a cart, in The Match in December and then again at the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie. But he still slightly dragged his right leg due to the ankle that was damaged in his car accident two years ago, as well as the plantar fasciitis that he’s contended with more recently.

At the par-3 fourth, where the group had to wait several minutes, Woods sat on a cooler with Thomas and untied his right shoe to give his foot some breathing room. On a couple of holes on the back nine, he pulled off the shoe completely to make an adjustment.

Tiger Woods adjusts his right shoe on the 12th hole during the first round of the Genesis Invitational. Ronald Martinez

“My ankle’s a lot smaller than it has been,” Woods explained. “So, I’ve had so many surgeries that the ankle just keeps changing, the leg keeps changing. Yes, the shoes keep changing, the socks keep changing. Everything’s a moving target. How much I’m on my feet, how much I’m not, how active I am, how not active, the muscles that are on, they’re off.”

In the scoring room afterwards, Woods said McIlroy announced that he needed to go practice with his driver. “Right behind you,” Woods joked, knowing full well that he would be heading back to his hotel room for extensive icing treatment to prep for his 7:24 a.m. round on Friday.

Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas laugh as they leave the ninth tee. Cliff Hawkins

There were some light moments that showed Woods had probably tempered his expectations, despite contending that he only enters tournaments if he believes he can win. Sitting on the cooler at No. 4, a story Tiger and Thomas, close friends now, shared brought JT to laughing tears.

The two had a similar moment walking off the ninth after Woods striped his drive straight down the middle past Thomas, and their exchange was funny enough that Woods leaned heavily on Thomas as they laughed.

Tiger producing a stirring closing stretch was fantastic. Seeing him enjoy the day with his buddies after all this time away might have been better.

“It was a great round,” Woods said of the camaraderie more than the score. “The ebb and flow of needling each other, encouraging each other and telling stories. Because I hadn’t been out here, so I’ve missed some of the things that have transpired on tour, which is kind of fun.”

The post Tiger Woods’ stunning rally with 3 straight birdies caps ‘great round’ at Riviera in return to tour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

But one course has proven a riddle Woods can’t seem to solve: Riviera Country Club, site of the tournament, the Genesis Invitational, that the 47-year-old now hosts.

It seemed only logical that Woods would eventually triumph at Riviera. It’s not far from where he grew up in Cypress, California, and it’s where Woods made his PGA Tour debut as 16-year-old amateur in 1992. Meanwhile, the George Thomas layout is relatively generous off the tee, with slick, sloped greens that demand precise iron play and careful lag putting — both of which Woods is considered among the greatest ever at doing.

Yet in 13 starts at Riviera as a pro, Woods has never claimed victory — only a runner-up finish in 1999 and three other top-10s. Woods has never played more times at a tour course without winning.

The disconnect is one that not only Woods can’t explain, but neither can his fellow tour pros. Max Homa, a self-confessed Woods superfan and the 2021 champion at Riviera, said it best.

Max Homa got to see Tiger Woods play upclose when they were paired for the opening two rounds at the Open Championship last July. Ross Kinnaird

“It makes absolutely no sense,” Homa said. “It’s a second-shot golf course, and he’s the greatest iron player of all time. It truly makes no sense.”

Homa, ranked 12th in the world, and Woods share victories at several venues where superior iron play is rewarded. That includes Quail Hollow, where Homa has won twice, and Torrey Pines, where Woods won eight titles including the 2008 US Open and where Homa last month earned his sixth career tour victory last month.

“I consider my strength being my iron play my whole career and I’ve played well [at Riviera] a lot” Homa said. “And when I go to certain courses that Tiger has played great at, like the ones where he’s completely dominated, like Bay Hill, I play well at [too]. So when you come [to Riviera], I would have thought he’d won 10 times. I don’t know, golf’s funny in that way. He’s good at everything, but that one’s a mystery to me because this seems like this would just be a playground for him.”

Adam Scott also has had plenty of success at Riviera. The Australian star won a weather-shortened Nissan Open in 2005, before grabbing an official PGA Tour win at Riviera in 2020. Like Homa, the 2013 Masters winner scratches his head as to why Woods is winless at the historic Southern California layout.

“He’s a really great iron player and you have to be a good iron player to play well here,” Scott said. “That may just be an anomaly and the only one in his whole career maybe. It’s a little bit inexplicable. I don’t know what to say about that. He’s certainly capable of handling it.”

Scott, who is chasing an elusive second career major to go with his green jacket, did have a solution — although it’s unlikely to happen. “I don’t know if he just doesn’t feel it here, but I’ll share some tips with him if he shares some tips on how to win a few majors with me.”

The post How has Tiger Woods not won at Riviera? His fellow pros certainly can’t explain it appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

All told, 23 of the top 25 players on the Official World Ranking are scheduled to compete in the 134-player field at Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles. The only two missing from the $20 million event are Cam Smith and defending champion Joaquin Niemann, who are both ineligible as LIV golfers.

Commitments for The Genesis Invitational (Feb. 16-19) include:

23 of the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Ranking
The top 30 players in the FedExCup standings
All 12 players that have won on TOUR this season
Tiger Woods (first start since 2022 Open)

Field: pic.twitter.com/5uQCqM2Y5r

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) February 10, 2023

Of course, the most notable player in the field is the one ranked 1,283rd in the OWGR. Tiger Woods surprised the golf world on Friday when he announced via social media that he was returning to play for the first time since last summer’s Open Championship. His appearance at the Genesis will mark Woods’ first start in a PGA Tour event that wasn’t a major since the Zozo Championship at Sherwood Country Club in October 2020.

Woods is also the host of the tournament at Riviera, where he’s played 14 times during his career but never won. His last appearance in the event came in 2020, when he finished 68th.

While the field is loaded with top-ranked players — Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, etc —there are also spots reserved for some other intriguing stories. Marcus Byrd, a member of the APGA Tour, is competing as this year’s recipient of the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption given to a minority golfer. And the tournament is also holding open a spot to the college golfer who wins Monday’s Collegiate Showcase. Past winners include Will Zalatoris in 2015 while at Wake Forest, Scheffler in 2018 at Texas and Sahith Theegala, in 2017 while at Pepperdine.

The post Other than Tiger Woods, who else is playing the Genesis Invitational? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“Sick. Sick,” Dahmen said.

Woods sent out a tweet on Friday afternoon that read “I’m ready to play an ACTUAL PGA Tour event next week at the Genesis Invitational.” As tournament host, Woods would have been there anyway, but the event takes on a whole new meaning now that he’s officially teeing it up, something he hasn’t done since the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews last July.

“The whole vibe on the property changes when he’s there,” Dahmen said on Friday at the WM Phoenix Open. “It’s like Jesus is walking around.”

Dahmen would know. At the 2018 Quicken Loans National, he was then still somewhat of an unknown journeyman and got paired with the 15-time major champion in Saturday’s third round at TPC Potomac. The experience was everything he dreamed it would be and more. “No one cares what you’re doing, and it’s almost better that way,” Dahmen said at the time, describing what it was like to play with Woods. “You’re just in your own little world. You forget what’s going on. You almost forget you’re playing golf sometimes. You get kind of stuck watching, watching him, the circus around him.”

You can bet Dahmen is hoping and praying they get to do battle once more.

“I just hope I’m tied with him after two days,” he said.

Tommy Fleetwood, also in the field next week, smiled ear to ear when he heard that the Big Cat was back (again).

“It will be cool,” the Englishman said. “Golf’s better when he’s playing and he’s healthy. On a personal level for him, too, he has to be thrilled to compete.”

Max Homa is thrilled to compete against Woods, too. In 2021, when Homa won his hometown event, Woods was not in the field, though he was on hand to congratulate Homa and present him with the trophy. It remains one of the most special moments of Homa’s career.

“It’s awesome, I feel like it’s just a treat when he plays,” Homa said. “We don’t know what his future schedule will be, but hopefully he can play more. It’s really exciting he’s coming back. Obviously it’s his tournament, so it already has a lot of buzz, but for him to be able to play is cool. Everybody’s always excited to see how he’s swinging it and how he’s doing, so it’ll be fun to watch.”

Even if they need to drag Woods around the course, Homa says they will.

“I imagine we’ll be carrying him down the hill on 1 and up it on 18. Which no one would mind.”

Patrick Rodgers, a fellow Stanford Cardinal who tied Woods’ record of 11 victories in college, was understandably pumped. He’ll be on the grounds next week as well, in search of his first tour win at age 30. Rodgers has two top-15s at Riviera in his last four trips.

“Stoked,” Rodgers said. “It’s great, as good as it gets. Great for the tour.”

Next week will mark Woods’ first official non-major PGA Tour start since October 2020 at the Zozo Championship. It is a rather large deal, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the tour. From the WM Phoenix Open to Tiger at Riviera, it’s safe to say the circus is very much in town.

The post ‘It’s like Jesus is walking around’: Pros react to news of Tiger’s return at Riviera appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dan Rapaport
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — As the sun went into hiding and the sweaters emerged at Riviera Country Club, Joaquin Niemann experienced a brief moment of heat. His chaser for the previous three days, Cameron Young, had just holed out from 53 yards for birdie on 15, the type of shot that flips momentum. Meanwhile, Niemann’s right hand had been a little too eager on a six-footer for par; a power lip out left a good 3½ feet for bogey to maintain a two-shot lead while Young stood on the 16th tee—a not-so-subtle display of gamesmanship.

Niemann collected himself, took his time, poured his bogey putt in the heart and regained control of a tournament that had been the 23-year-old Chilean’s since Thursday afternoon. In a goosebump-inducing coincidence, Niemann is the first wire-to-wire winner of Genesis Invitational since Charlie Sifford, the first Black man to play on the PGA Tour and the namesake for a yearly exemption into the Genesis Invitational, did it in 1969.

“I played my best golf on Thursday and Friday, and I knew the weekend was going to be hard, it was going to be a battle,” Niemann said. “I knew I’d be fighting myself a lot during those two days.

“It was amazing to [win wire to wire] because this would have been [Sifford’s] 100th birthday year. … I’m just happy to be a winner here at Riviera.”

Niemann polished off the victory with a workmanlike even-par 71 on Sunday, more than good enough after he ran off from a field that included all 10 of the top 10 players in the World Ranking by opening with back-to-back rounds of 63. At Riviera! He reached 21 under through 46 holes with an eagle at the tricky par-4 10th on Saturday but played his final holes in two over. Niemann did nearly the exact same thing on Sunday, hooping an eagle chip at the par-4 11th to get to 21 under before playing his final holes in two over.

The margin of victory—two, over Young and hometown boy Collin Morikawa, who ate Japanese food on Sawtelle Boulevard all week and closed with 65 to get to T-2—doesn’t properly reflect Niemann’s grasp on this tournament. But margins of victory do not matter in golf, and Niemann’s second PGA Tour win, at an iconic course, hosted by Tiger Woods, against a hyper-elite field, is the type of win that boosts careers.

Young, a 25-year-old rookie who looks and acts like a grizzled veteran, hung with Niemann step for step on the weekend. He trailed by two after two rounds and trailed by two after four. It is the Wake Forest grad’s second runner-up finish this season after a T-2 at the Sanderson Farms Classic last fall. This, though—this silver was different. After the round, Young was asked if he planned to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational in two weeks. “If they let me in,” he said, not yet aware that he jumped from No. 113 in the World Ranking to somewhere inside top 55.

Rob Carr
Cameron Young (right) finished two shots back of Niemann, but the rookie’s T-2 showing left an impression of its own.

“I think kind of once the iron shot on 18 didn’t go in, you’re kind of like accepting what’s going on,” Young said. “I mean, Joaquin wasn’t going to three-putt that realistically, his speed’s been so good all week. Overall, you finish tied for second at Riviera, I can’t complain. I mean, I’m lucky just to be here, and I know it does some good things for me going forward. So I am happy with the week, for sure.”

Niemann’s putting may have been good, but it was his iron play that was outstanding. He picked up more than seven shots on the field with his approaches, easily the best of anyone in the field. Niemann’s swing is distinctly modern: There’s a tremendous amount of side-bend on the downswing, his head drops significantly and his right arm is bent and noticeably under his left at impact. It’s not dissimilar, if you slow it down, from Young’s move, and it’s a type of move Woods said on Sunday he “simply can’t do.”

It’s a swing that has seen Niemann excel at every level—he submitted the World Amateur Golf Rankings as an 18-year-old and achieved the ultra-rare feat of securing a PGA Tour card through seven sponsor’s exemptions shortly after turning professional in 2018. He’s part of a growing contingent of Latin Americans on the PGA Tour, all of whom seem to stick together. They try to rent houses close to one another on the road, share a chef, have lively dinners and create a home-away-from-home feel. Carlos Ortiz, Jhonattan Vegas, Sebastian Munoz and Mito Pereira all stuck around after their rounds to watch Niemann receive the trophy from Woods.

“Having them here on 18, it was something really special for me,” Niemann said. “Obviously, we got the tournament, but knowing that they’re there for me, waiting for me to see me receiving the trophy was something really special. I’m really thankful and happy because of the friends that I have.”

Niemann’s victory put a bow on a week dominated by talk of the rumoured Saudi golf league. On Monday, tour player Kramer Hickok told the Stripe Show Podcast that 17 players had already signed up to play on the rival circuit, despite players knowing that would result in a suspension or ban from the PGA Tour. Three days later, revelations of comments Phil Mickelson had made in November to the Fire Pit Collective’s Alan Shipnuck for an upcoming biography on the six-time major winner surfaced, changing the conversation from nervous resignation about the league to frustration and resentment. On Sunday, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau dealt the upstart circuit a serious blow by joining a number of other top players in committing their futures to the PGA Tour.

Cliff Hawkins
Niemann was appreciative of winning a tournament hosted by Tiger Woods and with such storied history.

Niemann, on the other hand, remained mum on the topic throughout the week. His tone changed slightly as he basked in the glory of a special victory.

“Obviously everyone’s here to compete against the best players in the world. I’m here to do the same. I want to compete with the best players in the world, I want to be No. 1 one day.

“I think there’s nothing better like what I’m feeling right now. Winning a PGA Tour event, getting a trophy, having Tiger there, all the history behind, there’s nothing that can compete with this.”

The post Joaquin Niemann’s game isn’t just the secret of golf geeks anymore after an impressive win at Riviera appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dan Rapaport
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Tiger Woods is making progress, just not as quickly as he’d like.

The 15-time major champion said Wednesday that while his health continues to improve, he remains a long way away from returning to competition.

“I wish I could tell you when I’m playing again,” Woods, who serves as tournament host for this week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera, said during a press conference ahead of the event. “I want to know, but I don’t. My golf activity has been very limited. I can chip and putt really well and hit short irons very well, but I haven’t done any long stuff seriously. I’m still working. Like at the PNC, I’m still working on the walking part.

“My foot was a little messed up there about a year ago, so the walking part is something that I’m still working on, working on strength and development in that. It takes time. What’s frustrating is it’s not at my timetable. I want to be at a certain place, but I’m not. I’ve just got to continue working. I’m getting better, yes, but as I said, not at the speed and rate that I would like. You add in the age factor, too. You just don’t quite heal as fast, which is frustrating.”

Woods, who turned 46 in December, looked fit and sounded sharp while addressing the media nearly one year after his single-car accident outside Los Angeles. Two days after handing the trophy to Max Homa’s at last year’s Genesis, Woods suffered traumatic injuries to his right leg. He has not played a competitive round on the PGA Tour since the Masters in November 2020.

He did partner with his son in December at the PNC Challenge, an exhibition in which his game looked impressive enough to suggest Woods might be closer to playing on tour than previously thought. However, Woods was riding in a cart that week in Orlando, and the scramble format allowed him to only hit the shots he was comfortable with. Playing on tour, of course, is an entirely different animal, and Woods has said he would never petition for a special exemption to use a cart during competition.

“I’m a lot stronger than I was [at the PNC], I’m able to hit more shots,” Woods said. “But as I was alluding to at the PNC, I was in a cart. I can play weekend warrior golf, that’s easy. But to be able to be out here and play call it six rounds of golf, a practice round, pro-am, four competitive days, it’s the cumulative effect of all that. I’m not able to do that yet. I’m still working on getting to that point.”

Woods spoke alongside Aaron Beverly, who will make his PGA Tour debut Thursday at the Genesis after receiving the tournament’s Charlie Sifford exemption. Woods said he has not been able to ramp up practice on the longer clubs but has been able to increase the length of his short-game sessions.

“Short game-wise, yes, I can. Long game-wise, no, I have not, because that involves more loading, more torquing of the leg, and as I said, walking is something I’m still working on,” he said. “I can walk on a treadmill all day, that’s easy. That’s just straight, there’s no bumps in the road. But walking on a golf course where there’s undulations, I have a long way to go.”

The comments cast doubt on the hopeful speculation that Woods would be far enough along in his recovery to play in the Masters, which begins April 7. Woods said he could walk the Par-3 Course “today,” but did not say whether he planned to participate in the competition, which will make its return after a two-year absence due to COVID.

This July’s Open Championship, being played at St. Andrews, where Woods has won two of his three claret jugs, is another event that seemed to potentially be a target for return. The R&A is celebrating the 150th playing of golf’s oldest event. Whether Woods would be ready by then is also unclear.

Woods did, however, reiterate that he does indeed intend to return to competitive golf on a limited basis.

“Will I come back? Yes. Will I come back and play a full schedule? No,” he said. “I said that at Albany, that will never happen again. I can play certain events here and there, but on a full-time level, no, that will never happen again. Pick and choose my events, whether they’re majors or other events, I can do something like that, but come back and playing the tour, yes. But not on a full-time basis.”

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