Tiger Woods opens The Genesis Invitational in 72, deals with back spasms

No one is immune to the dreaded shank. Not even Tiger Woods.

After splitting the fairway at the par-4 18th in the opening round of The Genesis Invitational, standing even-par for the day, Woods hoseled his approach from 176 yards, the ball sharply sailing toward the right tree line. Woods immediately dropped the club behind his back in disbelief; the ball advanced just 71 yards, leaving a 109-yard approach to the green. Woods was left to place his hands on his hips, staring blankly ahead for a few seconds before regrouping to hit his third shot from the tree line to 15 feet, leading to a two-putt bogey.

Woods opened in 1-over 72 at The Riviera Country Club, eight back of early leader Patrick Cantlay.

"My back spasmed on it," Woods said of his shank on No. 18. "It's been spasming the last three holes, and it just locked up on me. Didn't move, didn't rotate, and presented hosel first."

When was the last time he hit a shank from such a position? "It's been a while," he said. "Definitely been a while. Other than trying to hit flop shots and other kinds of weird shots around the greens, not from the position I was at."

The Genesis marked Woods' first TOUR start since withdrawing from last year’s Masters during the third round; he underwent ankle surgery shortly thereafter. Woods returned to competition at the Hero World Challenge in December, placing 18th in the 20-player field, then teamed with son Charlie at the PNC Championship two weeks later.

After completing the Hero, Woods professed an intent to play roughly one TOUR event a month this season, and his start at The Genesis shows he is on the right track. Woods’ ankle looked to hold up fine Thursday, and he had plenty of speed (averaging 304.1 yards off the tee), but inherent competitive rust perhaps held him back from going low on a day where Riviera was gettable (Cantlay took the early clubhouse lead at 7-under 64). Woods hit eight of 14 fairways, 10 of 18 greens, and took 30 putts in the opening round.

"It's impossible to prepare for," Woods said of returning to competition after a lengthy layoff. "I rely so much on experience and having done this a long time, but still having the adrenaline dump in the system, ball goes further, speed goes up, just the yardages are a little bit different than they are at home. It's just different, and that's just a part of playing competitive golf."

The top 50 players and ties will make the 36-hole cut at The Genesis, a Signature Event, in addition to any players within 10 shots of the lead after the second round.

Woods opened Thursday with an up-and-down birdie from just right of the green on the par-5 first, draining a 4-footer, but he followed with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3. He rebounded with birdies at both of the front nine’s par 3s, draining a 15-footer at No. 4 and a 14-footer at No. 6, and he followed with three straight pars to turn in 1-under 34.

The Los Angeles-area native found trouble at the short par-4 10th; his tee shot found the back greenside bunker, 30 feet from the hole, and he was forced to play out horizontally. He chipped to 8 feet but couldn’t convert, taking a frustrating bogey. Woods, 48, rebounded with a 15-foot birdie at the par-5 11th from just off the green, but he bogeyed Nos. 12 and 15 to move over par for the day.

Woods reached the green in two at the 609-yard, par-5 17th and two-putted for birdie, moving back to even par. But his trouble on 18 derailed an otherwise solid finish to the day at Riviera.

"We've got some treatment ahead of us and some work to do, to be ready for tomorrow," Woods said. "That's just part of the deal, and look forward to the challenge."