PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — The sound was as unmistakable as it was incredible.
It was a familiar sound at the local fair, where public hackers in blue jeans and T-shirts swing and bang golf balls around the yard.
That sound was pure shank, the sound you heard from Tiger Woods’ 8-iron from the 18th fairway at Riviera Country Club during the opening round of the Genesis Invitational on Thursday.
Woods had just hit his drive to the right side of the fairway when his second shot suddenly rattled in the trees on the right side of the fairway, bounced off the cart path, and dribbled into a dangerous lie in the neck of a fan. is. Traveling all day.
Considering it was his first round in a full-field PGA Tour event since last year’s Masters about 10 months ago, Woods was playing reasonably well at the time, finishing at even par.
When a reporter mentioned the dreaded “S-word” and asked Woods about the shot, Woods replied, “Yeah…I shank it.”
How could this happen to one of the best players in the history of this game?
“My lower back cramped up on the last few holes and I was frozen,” said Woods, 48, whose foundation organizes the tournament. “It came down and didn’t move, so I took out the hosel and shanked it first.”
He said it’s “definitely been a while” since he’s taken a shot.
Now Woods faced the most terrifying third shot in golf: the swing after the shank off the tree.
“There was a little window there, 96 [yards to the] Front, 127 total, I tried to hit a punch hook with the 8-iron right after I shanked the 8-iron,” Woods said. “I said, ‘Okay, the next shot should be harder,’ and I made it. That was good.”
Genesis Invitational. michael owens
Unfortunately, Woods was unable to pull off his miraculous par save, which should have put an exclamation point on his return. He missed a 16-foot par putt following a nifty punch shot through the trees.
He finished the day at 1 over par, eight strokes behind leader Patrick Cantlay, who is caddyed by Woods’ former caddy, Joe LaCava.
Cantlay shot a 64 to be on seven under par, followed by Australians Jason Day and Cam Davis, and American Luke List, all on six under par. Jordan Spieth, Tom Hoge and Will Zalatoris, who is recovering from back surgery, are all 5 under.
As for Woods, he described his rounds as “a lot of good rounds and a lot of indifferent rounds,” adding, “It was kind of one way or the other.” I could only make birdies or bogeys, and I couldn’t get anything consistent at all. ”
Woods, who played alongside close friends Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland, admitted he was “definitely nervous” when he stepped onto the first tee Thursday morning.
“I care about how I play, but I certainly felt nervous at first,” he said. “I got off to a good start with the first birdie.” [hole] Then he quickly recovered on the next two holes and made a couple more birdies.It never got things going consistently, and hopefully [Friday] I can clean it. ”
Wood said it was “impossible to prepare” for him to jump into tournament golf so quickly after such a long layoff.
“I rely a lot on experience, and I’ve been doing this for a long time, but I still have adrenaline pumping in my system, so the ball goes farther and has more speed. It’s just that the yards are higher than at home. It’s just a little different,” he said. “It’s just different and it’s just part of competitive golf.”
When asked what the rest of his schedule would look like and whether he would be able to stick to his desire of one tournament a month and play often enough to get into a rhythm, Woods said: What does it look like?I hope so, I hope I can play that much. [once a month]. When it comes to physical ups and downs, it’s part of my body and what it is. It’s okay, I accept it and accept the challenge.
“I’m going to get rusty and have to be better prepared at home.”
