Tiger Woods’ ball ends up in fan’s jacket as the golfer enjoys resurgent round at Genesis Invitational
CNN
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It was an impressive and eventful third round from Tiger Woods at the Genesis Invitational, including his first eagle in three years – and a drive that ended in a spectator’s jacket.
It was Woods’ shot on the 13th hole at Riviera Country Club that veered right and somehow found its way into a fan’s jacket.
“All of a sudden he hit it, and nobody knows where it went,” the fan later told the PGA Tour. “I looked and there was this bump in my pocket, you know my jacket that I had wrapped around … and I pulled it and a ball fell out and it was his.”
After getting a free ball drop, Woods stepped up to save par. He earlier hit an eagle on his 1st hole, his first since the 2020 Genesis Invitational.
He finished the round with an impressive four-under 67, shooting three birdies and an eagle for his best round of the week and third-lowest score of the day.
Woods was asked if his performance was his best since winning the Masters in 2019: “Yeah, yeah, it is. It’s the best I’ve ever played,” Woods told reporters.
A second-round 74 meant Woods made just the cut to compete in the final two rounds of a tournament for the first time since last year’s PGA Championship, which he withdrew from before the final round.
After suffering serious leg injuries in a car accident two years ago, Woods has competed sparingly while battling the recovery process.
Playing at the Genesis Invitational this week marks his first official tournament debut since the Open Championship in July and his first non-major PGA Tour event since the ZOZO Championship in October 2020.
“It’s just a matter of whether I can get from point A to point B,” Woods said Saturday of the PGA Tour. “That’s been the struggle part of it. I can hit shots, I can hit balls on the range, I can chip, I can putt. Getting from point A to point B has been the biggest challenge. ”
“We’ll go ahead and reassess everything and see where we’re at, see how I recover from the whole tournament,” Woods added. “I haven’t done this in a while. It’s been a while since I last did it at the Open Championship. Hopefully the body will still feel better later next week. For now, the recovery period will be fun. ”
The 15-time major winner is three under par for the tournament, 12 shots off leader Jon Rahm, who is 15 under. The 47-year-old will tee off in the final round on Sunday at 11:16 a.m. ET.
He has had a controversial week in California. After his second round he said he was sorry “if I offended anyone” after he was criticized for handing a tampon to fellow golfer Justin Thomas during the first round.
“It was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn’t turned out that way,” Woods told reporters.
