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, one that saw his first eagle in three years – and one that ended in a spectator’s jacket.
It was Woods’ shot on the 13th hole at the Riviera Country Club that veered right and somehow ended up in a fan’s jacket.
“Suddenly he hit, and nobody knows where he went,” the fan later told the PGA Tour. “I looked and I had a bump in my pocket. You know my coat that I had wrapped around me… and I took it off and a ball fell off and it was his.”
After Woods dropped a free ball, he saved par. He had previously hit an eagle on his first 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 the best since winning the Masters in 2019: “Yes, yes, it is. It’s the best I’ve played,” Woods told reporters.
A second-round 74 meant that Woods had barely made the cut to compete in the final two rounds of a tournament, marking the first time since last year’s PGA Championship where he withdrew before the final round.
After suffering a serious leg injury in a car accident two years ago, Woods has made sporadic competitive appearances as he struggles with a grueling recovery process.
His participation in the Genesis Invitational this week marks his first official tournament start 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, according to the PGA Tour. “That has been the battle part of it. I can hit shots, I can hit balls on the range, I can chip, I can put. Getting from point A to point B was the biggest challenge.”
“We will go ahead and reassess everything and see where we stand, see how I recover from a full tournament,” added Woods. “I haven’t done this in a while. Last time I did it was at The Open Championship so it’s been a while. Hopefully the body is still feeling good sometime next week. From now on, the recovery time will be fun.
The 15-time big 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 at 11:16 a.m. ET on Sunday.
He’s had a controversial week in California. After his second round, he said he was sorry “if I offended anyone” after being criticized for giving fellow golfer Justin Thomas a tampon during the first round.
“It was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it wasn’t,” Woods told reporters.
