Tiger Woods reveals back spasm caused him to shank final hole in California

Patrick Cantlay leading by one shot.

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Tiger Woods revealed a back spasm had caused him to shank the final hole of his return to a first PGA Tour event of 2024 at the Genesis Invitational in California.

Woods, 48, is still adapting to ankle fusion surgery, having undergone treatment in April last year after withdrawing from the Masters during the third round and he did not compete again until the Hero World Challenge in December.

The 15-time major champion finished Thursday’s opening round at the Riviera Country Club on one-over par after shanking his second shot on the 18th from the fairway over into the trees on the right.

Highlights | Round 1 | The Genesis Invitational | 2024

Woods eventually sunk a two-putt bogey to make a five, and afterwards revealed he would need some treatment to get himself back out on the course again on Friday.

“My back spasmed on it,” Woods said in his post-round interview to the Golf Channel when asked about the shank on the 18th hole.

“It’s been spasming the last three holes, and it just locked up on me. Didn’t move, didn’t rotate, and present hosel first.”

Woods, who previously said he expects to participate in one event per month this year, added: “We have got some treatment ahead of us and some work to do, to be ready for tomorrow.

“But that’s just part of the deal, and (I) look forward to the challenge.”

Former world number one Woods hit eight fairways, 10 of 18 greens, and took 30 putts in the opening round.

“My round was good and a little bit indifferent,” said Woods, who had opened with an up-and-down birdie on the par-five first.

“I struggled with the speed of the greens, even though I made a few and was stressing out on the short game, I had maybe like five pars today.

Patrick Cantlay was the early leader with his round of 64, one shot ahead of Australians Cameron Davis and Jason Day, alongside Luke List. Jordan Spieth was among the group two adrift at five-under.

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1
1Patrick Cantlay-764
T2Cam Davis-665
T2Luke List-665
T2Jason Day-665
T5Tom Hoge-566
T5Jordan Spieth-566
T5Will Zalatoris-566
T8Byeong Hun An-467
T8Adam Svensson-467
T10Beau Hossler-368
T10J.T. Poston-368
T10Ludvig Åberg-368
T10Brendon Todd-368
T10Scottie Scheffler-368
T15Charley Hoffman-269
T15Lucas Glover-269
T15Harris English-269
T15Denny McCarthy-269
T15Adam Hadwin-269
T15Tom Kim-269
T15Christiaan Bezuidenhout-269
T15Lee Hodges-269
T15Brian Harman-269
T15Hideki Matsuyama-269
T15Si Woo Kim-269
T15Mackenzie Hughes-269
T15Taylor Moore-269
T28Nicolai Højgaard-170
T28Emiliano Grillo-170
T28Russell Henley-170
T28Corey Conners-170
T28Nick Taylor-170
T28Viktor Hovland-170
T28Sam Burns-170
T28Gary Woodland-170
T28Nick Dunlap-170
T28Tony Finau-170
T28Rickie Fowler-170
T28Kurt Kitayama-170
T28Xander Schauffele-170
T28Tommy Fleetwood-170
T28Collin Morikawa-170
T43Sungjae ImPar71
T43Keegan BradleyPar71
T43Grayson MurrayPar71
T43Andrew PutnamPar71
T43Patrick RodgersPar71
T43Wyndham ClarkPar71
T49Chase Johnson+172
T49Ben Griffin+172
T49Chris Kirk+172
T49Cameron Young+172
T49Justin Thomas+172
T49Tiger Woods+172
T49Matt Kuchar+172
T49Sam Ryder+172
T49Sahith Theegala+172
T49Adam Scott+172
T49Taylor Montgomery+172
T60J.J. Spaun+273
T60Sepp Straka+273
T60Eric Cole+273
T60Max Homa+273
T64Adam Schenk+374
T64Seamus Power+374
T64Rory McIlroy+374
T67Kevin Yu+475
T67Matt Fitzpatrick+475
T69Nick Hardy+576
T69Alex Smalley+576
Updated: February 16, 2024
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