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After a video of Woods playfully handing Justin Thomas a tampon after outdriving him went viral, Woods apologized and stated the 2 usually play pranks on one another.
LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods had some explaining to do Friday, about a putter so chilly he almost missed the minimize at Riviera, and about a chauvinist prank he performed on Justin Thomas within the Genesis Invitational.
In his return to elite competition for the primary time in seven months, Woods precipitated fairly a buzz within the opening spherical for all of the flawed causes.
It began when he ripped a 323-yard drive, some 10 yards longer than the 29-year-old Thomas. Walking off the tee, Woods discreetly put one thing in Thomas’ hand, which Thomas tossed to the bottom when he realized what it was — a tampon, to remind him that Woods hit it farther. Woods laughed and put his arm round Thomas.
Social media got here to life when the second was posted. On Friday, one fan shouted, “Tampon!” at Woods after he made a uncommon putt.
Woods apologized after his bogey-bogey end for a 74 within the second spherical, which left him over the projected minimize line. By the tip of the day, he moved up sufficient spots that he was sure to be round for the weekend. He was 11 pictures behind Max Homa.
“It was speculated to be all enjoyable and video games and clearly it hasn’t turned out that approach,” Woods said. “If I offended anyone in any approach, form or kind, I’m sorry. It was not meant to be that approach. It was simply we play pranks on each other on a regular basis and virally I believe this didn’t come throughout that approach.”
Outside of swearing following dangerous pictures, Woods hardly ever brings this sort of consideration to himself contained in the ropes.
The golf wasn’t a lot better, both.
He missed birdie probabilities early and par probabilities late, and the end was a polar reverse from his opening spherical when he closed with three straight birdies for a 69.
Woods got here inside inches of an ace on the par-3 14th, his fifth gap of the spherical, however he missed a 5-foot birdie probability two holes later.
“I did not putt well today,” Woods stated. “I blocked a lot of putts early, and this is probably the highest score I could have shot today. Probably should have shot probably five or six better than this easily. Just didn’t make the putts early and the middle part of the round when I had those opportunities. And they weren’t very hard putts.”
He nonetheless was 2 beneath for the match, even for his spherical, when he got here up wanting his goal on the par-3 sixth gap, the well-known inexperienced with a bunker within the center. The ball rolled down the sting to the entrance of the inexperienced, and the pin was minimize to the highest left.
Arms crossed and a lob wedge in his fingers, he studied a number of choices. He may have pitched it to the again of the inexperienced and up the slope and let it run again towards the opening.
“If I chipped it up on top, there’s a chance that it could actually come back to the front part of the green,” Woods stated, including that is what occurred when he tried it Wednesday through the pro-am.
He modified to the putter to tear up the slope, left of the pin to depart himself about 10 toes away for a probability at par. One drawback.
“The hill caught it more than I thought it would,” he stated.
It took velocity off the ball and it turned proper, down the sting of the bunker and into the sand. He blasted out to five toes and made a quick putt with sufficient break that he needed to begin it exterior the cup.
That was the beginning of a dangerous end. On the eighth, his tee shot discovered a bunker and he caught it heavy, hit his third over the inexperienced and did effectively to putt from the primary minimize of turf to tap-in vary for bogey.
On his remaining gap at No. 9, he got here up brief and plugged into the bunker. All he may do with a entrance pin was blasted out by means of the inexperienced, and his par putt caught the lip. Another bogey left him at 1-over 143, exterior the highest 65 when he signed his card.
“I had two bad calls on the wind on 6 and 9 and end up costing me two shots there,” Woods stated.
The match host is taking part in for the primary time since 2020 due to accidents to his proper leg from a automotive crash a yr later.
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