(Los Angeles) Tiger Woods, back on the greens after a seven-month hiatus, had a solid first round at the Genesis Invitational, finishing under par on Thursday in Los Angeles, where Max Homa broke away in the lead, ahead of world No.3 Jon Rahm.
The golf superstar, with 15 Grand Slam titles, returned a card of 69 (-2), which temporarily positions him at 27e rank after 18 holes, other competitors not having finished yet.
Long struggling with his putt, often a little too short for much of the day, the 47-year-old American finished strong by hitting three of his five birdies on the last three holes, which took him from a positive to negative score, as he had also committed three bogeys in the meantime.
And he did not betray any weakness on the physical level, on the yet demanding course of the Riviera Country Club. Nearly two years ago, not far from this site, located in Pacific Palisades, he had had a serious car accident, which caused him several open fractures in the legs, the right having been the most damaged, which gave little damage. hope for the continuation of his career.
Here he is five lengths behind the leader, Max Homa, who returned the best card of the day (64) with seven under par. Starting in the “back nine”, he, like Woods, managed three of his eight birdies, barely shaded by a bogey, on the last three holes.
This allowed him to overtake Jon Rahm (65), second. In the event of victory on Sunday, the Spaniard can become world No.1 instead of the American Scottie Scheffler, in difficulty on this first round.