Tiger Woods at the Genesis Invitational tournament on Saturday. (AFP Photo)
Tiger Woods' performance has been impressive at the Genesis Invitational in which he fired a two-over par 73 in the final round on Sunday. But the highlight of the day was the shot that veered off to the right and somehow found his way into the fan's jacket. The video was tweeted by PGA Tour and went viral. It was Woods' shot on the 13th hole at the Riviera Country Club. The golfer was competing in his first PGA Tour tournament since last summer's Open Championship at St Andrews.
"All of a sudden he hit, and nobody knows where it went," the spectator later told the PGA Tour, according to the video. "I looked and I had this bump in my pocket, you know my jacket which I had wrapped around... and I pulled it off and a ball dropped off and it was his."
Woods received a free ball drop and went on to save par. He had earlier hit an eagle on his first hole, according to CNN.
The golfer completed four rounds of the tournament, which he called "progress".
"It's progress, but I didn't win," said the 15-time major champion, who is still limited by the severe lower right leg injuries he suffered in a February 2021 car accident, which have required multiple surgeries.
"It certainly was a little bit more difficult than I probably let on," Woods added after posting a one-under par total of 283 for 72 holes.
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Woods, who reiterated this week that with spinal fusion surgery behind him and a right ankle that will always make walking any course a challenge, he can only hope to play all four major championships in a season with "a couple" of other events scattered through a year.
Woods hadn't played a tour-level event since he missed the cut at the Open Championship in July.
Sidelined after his accident in 2021, he made a stunning return at the Masters last year to finish tied for 47th. But he withdrew from the PGA Championship after the third round.
A return at Riviera continued Woods's long history with the course, where he made his PGA Tour in 1992 as a 16-year-old high schooler playing on a sponsor's exemption.