Tiger Woods announced via Twitter on Friday afternoon that he was returning to competition at next week’s Genesis Invitational.
“I’m ready to play an ACTUAL PGA Tour event next week @thegenesisinv,” tweeted Woods, who had until 5 p.m. ET Friday to commit.
Woods is the tournament host of the longtime event at Riviera Country Club, where he made his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992 but which he has never won as a professional.
This will mark Woods’ first official non-major start on the PGA Tour since the 2020 Zozo Championship. He teed it up in three major championships last year, making two cuts, though withdrawing after three rounds of the PGA Championship.
Back at the Hero World Challenge last December, Woods hinted that he’d be focusing on the majors moving forward. But he also didn’t rule out competing in other Tour events.
“The goal is to play just the major championships and maybe one or two more. That’s it,” Woods said. “Physically, that’s all I can do. I told you that, guys, you know, the beginning of this year, too. I mean, I don’t have much left in this leg, so gear up for the biggest ones and hopefully, you know, lightning catches in a bottle and I’m up there in contention with a chance to win and hopefully I remember how to do that.”
Woods is ranked No. 1,283 in the Official World Golf Ranking; he ended 2020 at No. 41, and less than two months, he was seriously injured in a one-car accident near Los Angeles and didn’t play competitively anywhere until the PNC Championship in December 2021.
Woods’ last start at Riviera was a solo 68th in 2020.
The Genesis Invitational is the Tour’s third designated event of the year, following the Sentry Tournament of Champions and this week’s WM Phoenix Open. The purse will be $20 million with $3.6 million going to the winner.
All but two players in the world’s top 50 who are eligible – Aaron Wise and Si Woo Kim – are listed in the field, including world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 2 Scottie Scheffler and the rest of the top 10 sans Cameron Smith.