LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods settled for a haphazard one-over-par 72 in the first round of the Genesis Invitational on Thursday as his surgically-repaired back caused him problems.
In his first PGA Tour start since April, Woods mixed five birdies with six bogeys including one at the last after he shanked his second shot into the trees, making the 15-time major champion drop his club in frustration
had been spasming over the last three holes and it just locked up on me and didn’t move, didn’t rotate.”
Woods, who underwent spinal fusion surgery in 2017, recovered nicely on his next shot, splitting two trees with a punch hook to find the green.
“A lot of good and a lot of indifferent,” Woods said of his round on a sunny day in Pacific Palisades.
“It was one or the other. I don’t know how many pars I had, wasn’t many. I was either making birdies or bogeys and just never really got anything consistent going today.”
The 48-year-old 15-time major champion, who withdrew before the third round of last year’s Masters because of a foot injury, said that issue was no longer a problem.