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LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods’ comeback is over.
Woods withdrew from the Genesis Invitational, the event he hosts each year in Southern California and the first official tournament he has played since last year’s Masters, on Friday afternoon due to illness.
Woods hit his tee shot on the seventh hole at Riviera Country Club after a rocky start to his second round. After hitting his drive and landing in the fairway, Woods climbed into a cart and left the course, signaling the end of his tournament. He was seen putting his head in his hands at one point on the way back to the clubhouse.
At the time, Woods was 1 over in his round and 2 over in the tournament.
Tour and rules official Mark Dusbabek later confirmed that Woods had withdrawn due to illness. Woods stopped in the bathroom several times through the six holes of him. He was also seen leaning and leaning on a cooler on the fifth tee, clearly uncomfortable. According to Rob McNamara, Woods’ longtime business partner and manager, he began feeling some “flu-like symptoms” after Thursday’s round.
“(He) woke up this morning, they were worse than the night before,” McNamara said. “He had a little fever and stuff, and he was better during the warm-up, but then when he came out and was walking around and playing, he started feeling dizzy.
“Ultimately, the doctors say he has something, potentially some type of flu, and he was dehydrated. He’s been treated with an IV bag and is much, much better and will soon be discharged on his own.”
Woods left the clubhouse alone and got into a vehicle to leave the course shortly after McNamara’s comments. An ambulance was called to Riviera due to a “medical request,” but neither Woods nor anyone else was transported in that ambulance.
Gary Woodland, who was playing with Woods and Justin Thomas, said it was evident from the beginning that Woods was not doing well.
“I saw him, he obviously wasn’t himself, he just didn’t look right,” Woodland said. “I saw him before the round started. It sucks. Obviously everything is better with him there and for him in his first tournament and he couldn’t go out and finish the way he wanted, that sucks for all of us.”
Woods posted a 1-over 72 to open the Genesis Invitational on Thursday. His first round was incredibly inconsistent throughout, and he actually missed what should have been an easy approach shot on the final hole. He said he was dealing with back spasms during the final stretch of the game, which he attributed to the brutal fusion procedure he underwent on his back in 2017. He underwent a second fusion procedure on his ankle after withdrawing from the Masters last year. but he said both Wednesday and Thursday that his ankle did not bother him.
Woods didn’t appear to have any physical pain in either his back or foot Friday before he retired.
“Nothing physical, his back is fine,” McNamara said. “It was all a medical illness, dehydration, and now the symptoms are reversing now that they put him on an IV.”
Patrick Cantlay was leading the tournament at 10 under par the week Woods withdrew, although Cantlay was only halfway through his second round. Woods was two shots off the projected cut line, so he would have needed a strong finish in the second half of his round on Friday to make the weekend.
Woods has long said he hopes to play about one tournament each month in 2024, which would allow him to compete in all four major championships. In theory, that will mean Woods will try to compete at either the Arnold Palmer Invitational or the Players Championship next month.
Cantlay flew ahead of the rest of the field on Friday afternoon. He backed up his first-round 64 with a bogey-free 65, taking him to 13 under par at the halfway point of the tournament. The Southern California native will enter Sunday with a five-stroke lead over the rest of the field.