Tiger Woods' 67 included drive landing in jacket and some much-needed good PR
Tiger Woods carded his first round in the 60s in more than 900 days on the PGA Tour during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
Tiger Woods hailed the "best I've played" since returning to professional golf at the Masters after carding his lowest round to par on the PGA Tour since 2020 as Jon Rahm took full control of the Genesis Invitational.
Few players were better than 47-year-old Woods on Saturday.
He came into the week ranked 1,294th in the world and despite a slightly chastened gait was in superb form, only dropping one shot in his round.
Related: Watch Tiger Woods putt his ball into a bunker
Woods made the cut on the number and there were moments of true brilliance in his 4-under 67.
Chief of which included a near albatross. This will be the first time he has played 18 holes in four consecutive days since the 86th Masters.
This also represents his first official event since he was seriously injured in his car crash in February 2021.
His round included an eagle and three birdies. He hit nine of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens, averaging 306.4 yards off the tee.
Woods began on the back nine and started with a birdie at the famous, drivable par-4 10th.
He picked up another birdie at No. 14, draining a putt from 24 feet to move to 2-under for the day after three consecutive pars.
Woods enjoys the par-5 first hole at Riviera and after unleashing a drive 316 yards his second shot rolled out to three feet.
He tidied up the eagle putt, made par at 2, 3, and 4 before birdieing No. 5. Woods' only dropped shot came on No. 7.
Despite splitting the fairway at the par-4, Woods missed the green left and then misjudged his third from off the green. It led to a bogey.
Woods - who has apologised for his tampon prank on Justin Thomas that was widely condemned - then finished with two more pars.
His 4-under 67 marked the first time he had shot a round in the 60s on tour in more than 900 days, his last appearance being the ZOZO Championship.
CBS analyst Trevor Immelman described Woods' round as "mind-boggling".
To put this into perspective, Woods' third round of 67 was better than Will Zalatoris (70), Shane Lowry (71), Tommy Fleetwood (71), Justin Thomas (69) and Viktor Hovland (70).
Oh, and Rory McIlroy (73) and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (70).
Woods said this was the "best he's played" since the Masters, adding:
Watch:
Perhaps there was a moment of good fortune for the Hall of Famer as this happened, too:
Elsewhere, Woods' drive landed in a fan's jacket on No. 13.
Watch:
“If I could I would have pushed it out.” @TigerWoods’ drive on 13 ended up in a fan’s jacket @TheGenesisInv. pic.twitter.com/beFCE8JIog
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 18, 2023
After Woods limped back to the clubhouse, he told the media something unsurprising. "My body is sore," he said.
But the message was clear:
Jon Rahm leads Max Homa
By day's end it was in-form Jon Rahm (65) who led the equally hot Max Homa (69) by three strokes at 15-under.
This is an elevated event with the winner taking home a cheque for $3.6m.
Both players have already tasted victory on the PGA Tour twice this season.
Rahm is attempting to regain the World No. 1 spot from Scheffler, who leapfrogged McIlroy with his win in Phoenix.
Keith Mitchell and Gary Woodland are also inside the top-5.
Genesis Invitational leaderboard
Next page: Pro who missed Genesis cut "to sign for LIV Golf"
Ben joined the GolfMagic team in September 2021, initially as a content executive.
These days, he assumes the position of content manager.
