Tiger Woods withdrew due to illness when playing the seventh hole of his second round at the Genesis Invitational; Woods was making his first start at an official PGA Tour event since The Masters in April.
The tournament host was making his first appearance of 2024 and just his seventh at an official PGA Tour event since The Masters in November 2020, with Woods playing a limited schedule due to injuries in recent seasons.
Woods mixed five birdies during six bogeys during an eventful opening-round 72 at Riviera Country Club, keeping him within eight strokes of early leader Patrick Cantlay, where he made a shank on the fairway during his final hole and struggled with back spasms over his closing holes.
The 48-year-old birdied the opening round of his second round as he looked to battle through to the weekend but slipped below the cut mark with back-to-back bogeys from the fourth hole, then made a two-putt par at the sixth hole and hit his tee shot onto the seventh fairway before calling an early end to his round.
The former world No 1 had his head in his hands as he was taken from the course on a buggy, with the PGA Tour confirming that Woods’ mid-round withdrawal was due to illness rather than injury.
Woods had not played an official event since the Masters last April, where he withdrew during his third round due to injury, although was able to complete 72 holes in December when he finished 18th in a 20-man field at the Hero World Challenge.
“When he was walking off the fourth green, he took a couple of steps and stopped and composed himself before he carried on walking down to the fifth tee box. When he did, once he got down there, he leaned up against a cooler and he was visibly in pain.
“There was a lot of commotion on the fifth green and behind the sixth green with PGA Tour security, Tiger’s staff and what not, so you knew something was up. Once he hit the tee shot on seventh I thought he might continue, but he couldn’t.
“He apparently wasn’t feeling very good before the round began and as he was walking around here, it just wasn’t getting better. I don’t think it was so much physical, it was that he was just feeling sick to his stomach.
“I don’t think he had a very good night last night, from what I’m reading between the lines. It might not be as much physical with the legs as it is just feeling more under the weather.”
