Tiger Woods officially committed to the 2017 Genesis Open at Riviera on Tuesday. The tournament will be played Feb. 16-19 in Los Angeles, and Woods is making his first appearance since he withdrew all the way back in 2006. It is the tournament Woods has played the most without a win.
It's also the site of his first PGA Tour event in 1992 as an amateur. He missed the cut and shot 72-75 that year.
Tiger Woods will play at Riviera for the 1st time since 2006. He played his 1st PGA Tour event there in 1992 at age of 16 (via @GettySport) pic.twitter.com/w4NMM2NjPg
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 13, 2016
The Genesis Open is where I'd pegged Tiger Woods' return to golf all along. He beat that by three months when he played in the Hero World Challenge in early December, but this spot makes sense for myriad reasons. The foremost of which is that Woods' foundation, aptly named the Tiger Woods Foundation, hosts the event.
"I'm very excited to come back to Riviera," said Woods. "To come back to the Genesis Open. This is where it all started for me. It was a life-changing moment for me. To come back with my foundation ... we are so proud and so honored to be back. For me, to come back as a player ... I've always loved playing there. The golf course is one of the most historic and iconic in the world."
BREAKING NEWS: @TigerWoods commits to play in 2017 #genesisopen! Tickets: https://t.co/yMK5wRF9Cjpic.twitter.com/9YUDXkspZF
— Genesis Open (@genesisopen) December 13, 2016
What will be interesting now is to see if Woods plays before this tournament.
He has options. He can play the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Farmers Insurance Open or one of the European Tour events in the Middle East. I presume he will play at least one of those, but if not, at least we know we will for sure see him within the first 50 days of the new year.
After the Hero World Challenge at the beginning of December, expectations will be high for Woods. He led the field in birdies down in the Bahamas, and he will have had another two months of practice under his belt by the time he tees it up in L.A. Woods will not be expected to win the event necessarily, but definitely to make the cut.
This is great news for golf fans as well as the PGA Tour. Next year is setting up to be an all-timer. With Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson arguably at the peak of their powers and old-timers like Tiger and Phil Mickelson still mixing it up, we could get one of the great years in modern golf history.
