Tiger Woods is back. The 15-time major champion returns to competitive golf this week at the Genesis Open on the PGA Tour. Golf fans all around the world are incredibly excited to see the great man back in action on the golf course this week.
Tiger Woods Returns
The Genesis Open gets underway on Thursday morning from Riviera Country Club, California, USA. This tournament has slowly become one of the biggest non-major tournaments on the PGA Tour, with a whopping $20 million in prize money up for grabs this week between the field.
The story this week however isn’t about Scottie Scheffler returning to world number one or any other pressing news in the world of golf. It’s all about the return of Tiger Woods this week.
The Florida man has won a staggering 82 golf tournaments one the PGA Tour since turning professional back in 1996. Since then, Woods has won an incredible 15 major championships, 82 PGA tour events, 41 European Tour events and another 25 tournaments worldwide. The man is the epitome golfing royalty.
The 47-year-old hasn’t played any competitive golf since back in the summer of 2022 at The 150th Open Championship. Woods missed the cut at St Andrews back in July and hasn’t hit a golf shot competitively since.
He has of course featured twice since then, once in a doubles event with his son Charlie, and once in ‘The Match’ with Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. However, this week marks his official return to competitive action on the PGA Tour.
We could watch this swing all day! 🤩 @TigerWoods is ready for Riv. #TeamTaylorMade pic.twitter.com/qpjcCbUzYm
— TaylorMadeGolfEurope (@TaylorMadeTour) February 15, 2023
The Genesis Open is a field full of exceptional golfing talent. The likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas are just some of the stellar names in this star-studded field. Rahm is currently the +750 favorite, with Scheffler and McIlroy next in the betting at +1000 with the best offshore sportsbooks.
With Tiger Woods having had limited competitive experience this past 12 months, he is understandably nowhere near to the favorites with the best golf betting apps. The 47-year-old can be backed at as price of +12000 with some sportsbooks in the US.
However, the fact Woods is such a big underdog doesn’t bother him one bit. In his press conference earlier this week ahead of the Genesis Open, Woods said that the only reason he is competing this week is because he believes he can win. If Woods didn’t think he could win, he wouldn’t compete.
“I’m excited to go out there and compete”@TigerWoods is ready for @TheGenesisInv. pic.twitter.com/OULsrBUZCb
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 15, 2023
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In his press conference ahead of the Genesis Invitational Open, Woods was adamant that he is only taking part because he believes he can win. The 15-time major champion insists he wouldn’t compete unless he thought he was capable of winning the golf tournament:
“I’m here to get that W, ” Woods said.
“If I’m playing, I’m playing to win. If I’m playing in the event, I’m going to try and beat you. Should I enter an event, it will always be to get the W. I wouldn’t put myself out there if I didn’t think I could beat these guys.”
It’s safe to say Woods isn’t lacking any confidence ahead of his return to competitive action. Only time will tell how competitive the great man can really be this week at Riviera. If you do think Woods will have the ‘eye of the tiger’ this week in California, then why not back him with your golf free bets to potentially triumph?
“I’m here to get that W.”
You heard it–Tiger Woods is locked in.
📺: Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/psVTQdRFGL
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) February 14, 2023
At the end of the day, Tiger Woods hasn’t had the career he has and hasn’t picked up the amount of wins he has by settling for mediocrity. As he made very clear in his Genesis Invitational Open presser, he is here to win. Nothing else.
Only time will tell as to just how competitive Woods can be this week at Riviera. However, one thing is for sure – it is great to see Tiger Woods back playing big-time golf again.
