LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tiger Woods returned to the PGA Tour and lasted only 24 holes, withdrawing Friday from the Genesis Invitational with flu-like symptoms and dehydration after hitting his tee shot on the seventh hole at Riviera.
Rob McNamara, his longtime associate and vice president of TGR Ventures, said Woods felt flu symptoms Thursday night that worsened when he woke up.
“He had a little bit of a fever and was better during the warm-up, but then when he got out there and was walking and playing, he started feeling dizzy,” McNamara told a PGA Tour official. “Ultimately, the doctors are saying he’s got potentially some type of flu and that he was dehydrated. He’s been treated with an IV bag and he’s doing much, much better, and he’ll be released on his own here soon.”
Woods left Riviera about two hours after he withdrew, sitting in the front seat of a red SUV as it departed.
He was 1-over par for the round — 2 over for the tournament — and projected just outside the cut when he asked for a cart and was driven off the course by a rules official. He has been walking slowly and looked drained of energy playing the front nine.
“He obviously wasn’t himself, just didn’t look right. Saw that before the round started,” said Gary Woodland, who played in the same group with Woods along with Justin Thomas. “Obviously, everything’s better with him there and for him for his first tournament back and he couldn’t come out and finish the way he wanted to, that sucks for all of us.”