Tiger Woods, frustrated by recovery pace, returns to Genesis Invitational one year after crash

LOS ANGELES — A very different Tiger Woods arrived at the Genesis Invitational this week.

While plenty has changed over the past year, and he's far from fully recovered, one incredibly important thing remained the same.

When Woods walked into the Riviera Country Club clubhouse on Wednesday morning, he did so on his own two legs.

“I’m very lucky. Very lucky,” Woods said. “I didn’t know if I was going to have the right leg or not. So to be able to have my right leg still here, it’s huge.

“I still have a lot of issues with it, but it’s mine. I’m very thankful for that.”

Tiger Woods: 'Every day is a fight'

Woods was driving in Southern California last February, two days after Max Homa won the 2021 Genesis Invitational, when the SUV he was driving left the road and flipped before landing on its side. The vehicle, which had the Genesis Invitational logo on the side, sustained major damage.

The 46-year-old, who was alone in the car, was extracted through the front windshield and then taken to a local hospital. He sustained multiple leg injuries, including a shattered ankle and a compound fracture, and nearly lost his leg completely.

Now, he said, that leg looks very different from its counterpart.

Woods then slowly started rehabbing from his Florida home, and largely disappeared from the public eye. He posted a photo of himself in a walking boot and using crutches on his golf course in April, and then said a month later that the rehab process was “more painful than anything I have ever experienced."

Woods posted a three second video to Twitter in November showing him hitting balls on the range with just a sleeve on his right leg. He said Wednesday that while his short game is something he can, and is, making significant progress on, he physically can’t do too much with his long game yet. That just requires too much from his leg.

“My leg was not in a very good position there about a year ago, and I’ve had to work through a lot of different operations and a lot of different scenarios,” Woods said. “It’s been tough, but I’ve gotten here. I’ve gotten this far and I still have a long way to go.

"Each and every day is a fight, and I welcome that fight. Get up in the morning, let’s go a few more rounds.”

When will Tiger play on Tour again?

Woods confirmed what many had assumed late last year, and then reiterated that fact yet again on Wednesday.

His days of playing full time on Tour are over.

“That will never happen again,” Woods said. “I can play certain events here and there, but on a full-time level, no. That will never happen again.”

Woods has played competitively, sort of, since his crash. He and his 12-year-old son, Charlie, finished in second behind John Daly and John Daly II at the PNC Championship in December — which, for many reasons, was the perfect spot for Woods to return. The shortened parent-child event allowed him to both lean on Charlie’s game and ride in a cart while doing so.

Multiple times on Wednesday, Woods said he still is struggling to walk — and that having to do so while playing in a Tour event over the span of a week is still an impossible feat.

“Being a weekend warrior is easy. That’s not that hard,” Woods said. “Hit your ball, hop in a cart, ride, barely step out of the cart, grab your club and hit the next one … I can do that. That’s not that hard. But walking a golf course, that’s a totally different deal.”

Officially, his last Tour appearance was at the rescheduled Masters in 2020. That time at Augusta National, he finished T38. This week, he's hosting the Genesis Invitational — which features a loaded field, including everyone ranked inside the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

So when will Woods compete on Tour again?

“I wish I could tell you when I’m playing again,” Woods said. “I want to know, but I don’t … It takes time. What’s frustrating is it’s not at my timetable. I want to be at a certain pace, but I’m not. I've just got to continue working.”

Based on Woods’ comments, both previously and on Wednesday, he wants to play again. When, or what that looks like, clearly isn’t something he’s ready to think about yet.

Even if that never happens, Woods has, at least in Homa’s eyes, done more than enough for the sport.

“If there might be a person who’s immortal, I think it’s him,” Homa said Wednesday. “He personifies hard work and kind of that ‘never give up’ attitude. I think everybody out there is just happy he’s back to moving around and seems to be doing pretty well.

"If the golf thing happened, that would be cool, but I think he’s done enough for the game. If he doesn’t ever want to hit another golf shot, he’s done plenty for all of us.”