But since the U.S. Women’s Open is at Riviera Country Club this year and the LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship in April wasn’t far from here, Kupcho changed her pre-major plans. She played Riviera before the JM Eagle with friends who are members here. They’re the people with whom Kupcho is staying with this week.

It looks like parents know best.

Feeling comfortable with choice of lines and simply believing the famous layout fit her eye, Kupcho shot a five-under 66 on Thursday to lead the U.S. Women’s Open by one stroke after the first round.

“I think my parents have always pushed me like, ‘Hey, why don’t you go try and see the golf course beforehand?’ I’m like, ‘No, I don’t do that. I never do that for any other tournament. Why would I change that for the U.S. Open,’” Kupcho recalled after her round.

“I wouldn’t say I necessarily went out of my way since we were here in L.A. at El [Caballero Country Club], but it definitely made it super easy to come out and see it. Then when I showed up this week, I knew where everything was, I knew what I was doing. So I think it actually helped.

“Parents are always right, right?” she added with a smile. “I think that certainly helped, but I think I just have a great setup. I really like this golf course. It kind of fits my eye. With the great host family, it just makes the whole week easier.”

It’s challenging to win a major, and Kupcho knows that, having captured the 2022 Chevron Championship for her first LPGA victory. But she’s already put herself in great position. Sei Young Kim shot a 67 to be solo second, and five players are tied at two shots back.

With an afternoon tee time, Kupcho birdied the first three holes of the day. She hit nine of 14 fairways and hit 12 of 18 greens in regulation. Surely, the best statistic of the day was that she needed just 26 putts—tied for first.

Best thing to do after a bogey… an immediate birdie!

Jennifer Kupcho (-5) back in the solo lead.@Ally pic.twitter.com/Hu8OzzNa9N

— U.S. Women's Open (@uswomensopen) June 5, 2026

Kupcho also got a boost late in her round at the shortest par-3 on the course, the 145-yard 16th, where she almost made a hole-in-one with what was a lucky result.

“It’s funny,” she said. “I just see an 8-iron [aimed] straight at the [TV] tower, and I hit it straight at the flag. I walked over to my caddie and he goes, ‘Straight at the tower, huh?’ I said, ‘Well, it’s next to the pin, so it’s fine.’”

This is the first time Kupcho has ever led a round at the U.S. Women’s Open, and she was all smiles after the round. It’s her ninth major championship round of 66 or lower, which is tied with three-time major winner Minjee Lee for most of any player since 2019.

Kupcho is a four-time winner on the LPGA, but the USGA tests have proved to be a challenge.

Her visit to Riviera with for the round with friends in April could’ve unlocked a major key.

“We didn’t really talk that much about the golf course. It was kind of just having fun,” Kupcho said. “But I think it helps me to be able to see the lines, kind of know where to go. Thank god I hit it well that day as well. I kind of didn’t have to see the bad parts of the golf course, but I think that certainly helped, just kind of being comfortable coming out and having fun before you’re on a big stage.”

Asked if she was going to text her parents and tell them they were right, Kupcho said, laughing: “The funny thing is they have never missed a U.S. Open either, and they’re not here this week. So maybe they were right and maybe don’t come. I don’t know what the relation is. We’ll see what happens.”

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World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul is still searching for the first major title of her young career, and the Thai star believes the key to unlocking success is in her short game.

Thitikul has another chance to work out her major challenges at the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club this week.

“I think getting up-and-down is the biggest challenge for me because I know I hit like a lot of greens when I was young, and I wasn’t really chipping [a lot],” Thitikul said on Monday. “I love to practice my putting. My dad brought me to the driving range a lot. That’s why I hit a lot of greens.

“My coach, Kris [Assawapimonporn], always says that chipping is so fun. I’m always like, ‘No, that sounds boring to me.’ But I do tell him that putting is fun too, and then he’s like, ‘No, that’s so boring.’ You just do one thing all the time and then repeat that. Repeat that. He just loves chipping and then playing shots all around. Chip it around the tree, cover the tree, under the tree.”

Thitikul, 23, has nine LPGA wins and 59 career top-10s. She has $18.4 million in career earnings and is the reigning player of the year. Yet, she’s never won that elusive major, and she’s joked before that she doesn’t think about it except when people often ask her about it.

She’s played in four U.S. Women’s Opens, missing the cut in two, with a best finish of T-6 at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club in 2024. Thitikul isn’t sure there’s a common theme as to why she hasn’t won this major in particular. But patience is one.

“I think all the U.S. Opens that I have are so different because we had different courses, different mindset, different weather outside,” Thitikul said. “I think you need to really be patient in a U.S. Open. On the 18th hole, you definitely know that you’re not going to make birdie bombs as you make in a lot of tournaments. You definitely had a tough up-and-down, and then you have to bounce back from some places that maybe just see impossible things. I think you have to keep being really patient. I think it’s a good advantage for being in the U.S. Open.”

Thitikul had a disappointing first major of the season by missing the cut in the Chevron Championship. She made her next start two weeks later at the Mizuho Americas Open and won it, for her second title of the season. Her first was the memorable win in her home country at the LPGA Thailand.

Even as young as she is, Thitikul is arguably the best player who has yet to win a major. She’s played in 28 total—three as an amateur—and has nine top-10s. She had her closest call at the Amundi Evian Championship last year, but finished second after losing to Australian Grace Kim in a two-hole playoff.

All would be forgotten if she can win here, where the U.S. Women’s Open kicks off a stretch of four majors in the next two months—the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Women’s British Open and Evian Championship.

“I feel like the majors are coming up so close. I do love the time [between] Chevron to here, but from here, we just feel like we have major stress,” Thitikul said. “… If you’re at your peak in this period of time, you might have a really good long stretch.

“I prep for the U.S. Open, and then next week I have a week off, and I prep for, obviously, KPMG. It’s not like I have to make like 10 hours of prep in a day for just the U.S. Open or KPMG. I think we prep for just a better future. Not just the major, but the better future, the better games we’re going to have not just this year, but like my whole career in the future.”

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The iconic par 3, which Ben Hogan once called the greatest in America, features a Redan green, meaning it’s angled from the front-right to the back-left, allowing players to aim well right of the pin use the green’s slope to funnel the ball toward the hole. It’s the type of par 3 you could watch shots come into for the entire day and never be bored. Messing with it would be akin to drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

Unfortunately, that’s what happened ahead of this week’s Genesis, which is back at the legendary George Thomas design after a one-year hiatus due to the Palisades wildfires that ravage the local communities in January of 2025. The 236-yarder was lengthened by nearly 40 yards, now playing as a 273-yarder.

A number of players have been asked about the change this week, among them Rory McIlroy. Let’s just say he’s not a fan.

“I don’t think 4 plays any differently, you’re just hitting a slightly longer club,” said McIlroy following his Pro-Am round Wednesday. “I actually think it’s a horrible change.”

When asked why, McIlroy pointed out that only 15 percent of the field hit the green when it played at 236 yards in 2024. Then he made another fair, agricultural point.

“Like if you want it to be a 275-yard par-3, you have to change the apron leading up onto the green,” he said. “It can’t be kikuyu, it has to be another type of grass that can help you run it onto the green because again, in the right conditions, you try to fly that ball on the green with a 3-iron, it’s going to land — it’s going to finish up on the fifth tee box. That’s sort of what I mean by why it’s not a great change.”

For those who have never experienced kikuyu grass, it tends to grab the golf ball, making it very difficult to run the ball up onto the green. In the past, the big-hitting players of today’s game could fly a mid-to-high iron up in the air, land it softly and get it to roll toward the hole. That is much harder to do with a low iron in your hands, as McIlroy noted. The next best strategical choice would be to run it up, but the kikuyu grass does players no favors on that front.

U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun said that, due to the softer conditions because of the recent rain, he was able to fly a 3-wood onto the fourth green Wednesday and feed it down to six feet. Spaun made par.

“The problem with it being soft, you can’t really use the Redan I think as it’s intended to be by design,” said Spaun. “But with how soft the greens are, you can pretty much just fly it at the green and it should just plug and roll out maybe to the mid-center, back center of the green and make your 20, 30-footer if you have it. But I think three 3s or four 3s there is going to be a pretty good score this week.”

The green will only get softer on Thursday, when heavy rains are expected for much of the morning. Plenty of sun and wind is expected for the rest of the week after that, which should help dry the course out and make the challenge of the mammoth par 3 fourth that much more prominent.

Collin Morikawa, winner of last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, played the new edition of the fourth for the first time Wednesday. His take wasn’t as strong as McIlroy’s, but it was one golf architecture historians likely nodded in agreement with.

“I think it’s just a very long par-3,” Morikawa said. “There’s not a lot of thought to it other than just kind of hitting the green and moving on, unfortunately.”

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On April 9, the International Olympic Committee announced that several new medal opportunities are being added in a variety of sports when the Summer Games comes to Los Angeles. Among them is golf, which will debut a mixed-team event that will be held in addition to the individual men’s and women’s tournaments scheduled for Riviera Country Club in 2028.

“The mixed events are a real true embodiment of gender equality—men and women competing in the same team, on the same field of play for their country,” IOC sports director Kit McConnell said in a news conference. “We’ve seen the real success of these [mixed-gender events]. They bring something incredibly special for the athletes involved.”

On Tuesday, the International Golf Federation announced the specific format for the mixed-team event. It follows what the IGF had previously proposed: a two-player 16-team competition over 36 holes that would feature an opening round of foursomes (alternate shot) and final round of four-ball play. The teams would be selected from the 60 men and 60 women already qualified for individual play based on the Olympic Golf Ranking, with only one team per country.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to see a mixed-team event added to the programme for Los Angeles 2028,” said Antony Scanlon, the IGF Executive Director, in a press release. “Golf was incredibly successful at Paris 2024, and as we continue building on the momentum from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, we’re excited to bring even more attention to our sport through this additional format. The athletes were very enthusiastic about their desire to play with their compatriots, and we look forward to watching them compete together in Los Angeles.”

As for the timing of the event, it will be held between the men’s and women’s individual competitions. It will mark the first time there has been a team golf event in the Olympics since the 1904 games in St. Louis.

Currently, the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour hold an unofficial mixed-team event, the Grant Thornton Invitational in December.

In addition to golf, there will be expanded mixed events in archery, track and field (4x100m mixed relay), gymnastics, rowing coastal beach sprint and table tennis.

The IOC also announced that for the first time in history, all team sports will have at least the same number of women’s teams as men’s teams, with water polo adding two women’s teams, making it now 12 women’s and 12 men’s teams.

Football, with 16 female teams, will feature more women’s teams than men’s (12).

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The PGA Tour announced it is moving next month’s Genesis Invitational from Riviera Country Club amid the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles County.

The move, which has been expected for several days, was finalized Thursday, although the tour nor tournament officials publicly announced a new tournament site.

“In collaboration with Genesis, The Riviera Country Club and TGR Live, and out of respect for the unfolding situation, we have determined that the Genesis Invitational 2025 will be played at an alternate location the week of Feb. 10-16,” read a statement. “A venue update and additional tournament information will be provided in the coming days.”

Though the course and clubhouse at Riviera have not been damaged most of the surrounding area has suffered significant losses. In the Pacific Palisades alone more than 23,000 acres have been hit, and less than a quarter of the fires have been contained. On Monday night, tournament host Tiger Woods had expressed doubt the tournament could or should remain at Riviera.

“We’re trying to just figure everything out and make sure that everyone is safe and we have meetings scheduled going forward,” Woods said, adding he knew “a couple people that have lost everything” in the fire. “We’re not really focused on the tournament. It’s more about what we can do to help everyone who’s struggling, who’s lost homes and had their lives changed.”

Should the PGA Tour want to stay in Southern California, there are several viable options—including this week’s American Express host, PGA West. The WM Phoenix Open is happening the week before the Genesis.

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As of late Thursday nearly a quarter of a million residents were forced to evacuate their residences in the greater Los Angeles area due to numerous fires in the region. One of the hardest hit areas has been the Pacific Palisades; as of 3 p.m. PT on Thursday, nearly 20,000 acres in the Palisades were touched by the flames, with the Los Angeles Times reporting more than 9,000 homes and structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton fires. It is the first and largest of four major wildfires spurred by a wind event, with the Wildfire Alliance indicating Wednesday that it is already the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history.

The Palisades is home to the Riviera Country Club, home of the tour’s Genesis Invitational (formerly known as the Los Angeles Open), which Tiger Woods now hosts. The course and club are reportedly fine, although the neighbourhood surrounding the property has been affected. The event is scheduled for Feb. 13-16.

The PGA Tour informed its membership Thursday that, for the moment, it is not ready to make a decision regarding the status of the event.

“The PGA Tour is monitoring the devastating fires in Los Angeles County. At this point, it is premature to discuss the potential impact on the Genesis Invitational. Although the Riviera Country Club has not been directly affected by the fires, our immediate concern is the health and welfare of those in the affected communities, including all our members who have ties to Southern California.

“We will keep the membership updated as the situation develops.”

Even if the course and club remain untouched, a number of issues may prevent Riviera from hosting. There are the logistical problems of getting players, tournament officials and fans through Pacific Palisades as recovery efforts are underway. Lodging will likely be a problem with hotels putting up those who lost their residences. Running a tour event takes thousands of volunteers and personnel, including police and medical presence, and those requirements would be tough to fill. There are also the optics of playing a golf tournament amid an ongoing crisis.

As for alternative sites, the TPC Scottsdale, which is hosting the WM Phoenix Open the week before the Genesis, could pull double duty. Two sources familiar with the tour told Golf Digest playing two straight weeks in Mexico, which is set to host the week after Riviera, is highly unlikely.

The Genesis Invitational is part of the PGA Tour’s signature event series, which features a limited field of the tour’s best players. The NBA postponed Thursday night’s Los Angeles Lakers game, while the NFL has already moved its scheduled playoff game between on Monday night from Los Angeles to Glendale, Arizona. The Los Angeles Rams host the Minnesota Vikings.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna noted Thursday it may be some time before a true death toll is known. “At one point, we’ll be able to do a more thorough search of these impacted areas—some of them look like a bomb was dropped in them—where we will be able to bring in canines and other things to help us, hopefully not discover too many fatalities, that is our prayer.

“This is a crisis.”

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https://twitter.com/30problemz/status/1808186733680349279

An in-depth ESPN expose on Thompson leaving the Bay Area begins at the renowned golf course with a round between the three-point specialist and the team’s controlling owner, Joe Lacob. It didn’t seem to go great.

“Six weeks ago, the club’s famous golf course was the site of the end of the Golden State Warriors’ 13-year marriage to Klay Thompson,” Ramona Shelburne and Kendra Andrews write. “The team’s controlling owner, Joe Lacob, had invited Thompson to play a round with him at the exclusive course to show him respect, to try to strengthen a frayed bond with the franchise legend so that he might be willing to wait, to trust that the team still wanted him, even though negotiations on a new contract had long since gone south.”

MORE: Golfer known for tragedy shoots 59 in John Deere Classic

Of course, things stayed frosty with Thompson demanding a two-year deal for roughly $20 million a season, even telling Curry to not use his “organisational clout to interfere with his negotiations with the team.” The Warriors’ management responded with something to the extent of “We just can’t do it yet,” and that was that.

According to ESPN, the golf “was just golf.” Thompson wasn’t coming back. He would soon be a Maverick.

“And so it was that Lacob invited Thompson out to play Riviera in mid-May,” Shelburne and Andrews continue. “There was no set agenda. Lacob just wanted to connect with Thompson and to play. The invitation alone conveyed respect.

“But in this case, it was just golf. There was no discussion of contracts or the team. No exploration of why Thompson had been so miserable all year. No drink out by Bogey’s Tree.”

A 13-year run, four championships and a strong showing in The Match is nothing to scoff at. Everything ends eventually and we have no doubt that Curry and Thompson will be teeing off together again soon enough. Maybe just not at Riviera.

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It’s a big fan club. For the longest time, Jason Day didn’t want the secret clubhouse password.

Many of the Aussies love Riviera and its tournament, the Genesis Invitational, because the Kikuyu grass and eucalyptus—“gum trees” Down Under—remind them of home. Scott said this week that even the smells bring back fond memories. To which Day quipped on Thursday, “Well, it doesn’t smell like Bermuda and sand greens where I grew up.”

MORE: Tiger Woods faces the loss of a critical tool—his competitive edge

Early in his career, Day hardly felt welcomed at Riviera. He played three straight times starting in 2010, missed two cuts and tied for 62nd. Five years later, he was back, only to get a T-64. He took another break, and three years later came another missed cut.

It wasn’t until last year’s Genesis, with Day having returned to full health and taking a new attitude, that he thrived. He shot 67 in the second round and charged with a 65 on the final day to finish T-9 at nine under.

After another six-under-par 65 in this year’s opening round of the $20 million Genesis on Thursday put him into a three-way tie for second, Day might have fully turned the corner on his Riv-attitude.

“In my early days, I disliked this golf course,” Day admitted. “Like, it’s very easy to dislike it if you kind of get out of position, and you can’t run something up to the green because it just kind of sticks at the front [in the Kikuyu]. If you’re coming out of the rough and it lands on the green, it goes over the back. And if you don’t [play well], you get frustrated and you’re like, I don’t like this golf course.

“One of two things had to change,” Day explained. “I either wouldn’t play here, or you just have to change your attitude a little bit. … I think changing that mindset and that attitude, saying that this is one of my favourite stops of the year because it is a tremendous golf course. Rich history from like some of the greats that have played the tour have played here and won here.

“… For me to try and change that mindset, that attitude was huge. Obviously, I’ve found some success, which is good.”

This would count as success: On Thursday, Day made six birdies against no bogeys and tied for second in the field with 13 greens in regulation.

“A lot of good, quality shots into the greens,” surmised Day, who has climbed back to 19th in the world following his 13th career PGA Tour win at last May’s Byron Nelson. He already has two top-10 finishes this season.

Day was asked if he thought his back-to-back 65s at Riviera prove that he’s cracked some kind of code.

“I didn’t even know I did that,” he said. “I’ve got the worst memory in the world, though.”

Main image: Jason Day tees off the fourth hole during the first round of the Genesis Invitational. Harry How

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Fifteen major championship wins, 82 victories, and 374 starts into his PGA Tour career, he stood on the elevated first tee at Riviera Country Club on Thursday morning, a large crowd gathered around him, and if Woods looked calm, he was not. Nowhere can you duplicate the tension of the opening shot of a professional golf tournament.

Ask Sahith Theegala. A couple hours after Woods, the Southern California native had his own boisterous following on the first tee and nearly whiffed on his fairway wood, hitting a popup to short centerfield that travelled all of 243 yards—60 behind Tommy Fleetwood.

Woods fared better on his first competitive shot since the Masters last April, sending his tee ball 299 yards on the way to an opening birdie.

“Definitely nervous,” Woods said afterwards. “I care about how I play, and certainly I was feeling the nerves starting out.”

Once the nerves settled down, Woods spent the rest of the first round of the Genesis Invitational peeling of the layers of rust that accumulated over the 10 months of rehab following surgery last spring to fuse his right ankle that was mangled in his 2021 car accident.

“A lot of good and a lot of indifferent” is how the 48-year-old summed up an effort of one-over-par 72 that put him tied for 49th place and seven shots back of leader Patrick Cantlay.

Woods made only seven pars in the round, bouncing back and forth between fairly sharp driving, some squirrelly iron play and more of the struggles he has spoken of on Riviera’s Poa annua greens. In a rare refrain, he said, “I can’t believe how fast the greens are here considering how much rain.” And there was the shank heard ‘round the Southland, with Woods cold hoseling his approach from the fairway at 18 for what resulted in a hard-fought bogey.

Woods said he suffered a back spasm on the shank and therein lies the issue whenever he comes back out to play competitively. What part of his body will ail him? He has a fused back and fused ankle. Remember, Thursday marked only Woods’ 26th official round in the past three years.

“I think sharpness,” Woods said of where his preparation for the tournament might have been lacking. “… Making adjustments on the fly … and the feel for a round and how to make those adjustments. When we were playing here, I was getting better each and every day. But then again, I haven’t played in a while again. That’s kind of the frustrating part of it.

“I’m going to be rusty and I have to do a better job at home prepping. We need to do a better job with lifting and treating and continuation of rehab protocols, all those things.”

What remains to be seen is if Woods can ever summon a competitive edge if he’s in the arena so little. Like that adrenaline rush he felt on the first tee at Riviera.

“It is impossible to prepare for,” he admitted. “I rely so much on experience and having done this a long time, but still having the adrenaline dump in the system—ball goes further, speed goes up, just the yardages are a little bit different than they are at home. It’s just different and that’s just a part of playing competitive golf.”

Main image: Tiger Woods waits to putt on the fourth green on Thursday. Ben Jared

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The 15-time major champion is making his first official start in a PGA Tour event since withdrawing from the 2023 Masters, after which he underwent surgery to fuse his ankle. He also is the tournament host for the Genesis Invitational, whose stature was further heightened this season by being among the PGA Tour’s eight $20 million signature events. And then there is the 48-year-old Woods as the elder statesman on the PGA Tour Policy Board, to which he was named a player director last August.

That’s a lot of hats for the man wearing a new logo this week, and not surprisingly, Woods was called upon to speak about each of those jobs in his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday.

His health, his swing, his winless skein at Riviera, his TGR Foundation and, of course, the current state of affairs as the pro golf world moves into unchartered territory—Woods addressed all of it, though it could be said that he delivered very little of actual substance.

The most pressing question in the game is the PGA Tour’s partnership with Strategic Sports Group (SSG) that will infuse up to $3 billion into the newly created PGA Tour Enterprises. Still to be determined, however, is whether Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the purveyor of rival LIV Golf, also will become a part of the enterprise, and at what level, both financially and as a power player.

Woods is no doubt a significant voice in those negotiations, and though he provided few details about how the talks with PIF are going, he did make it clear that he is not opposed to the Saudis having a stake.

“Ultimately, we would like to have PIF be a part of our tour and a part of our product,” Woods said. “Financially, [they aren’t] right now, and the monies that they have come to the table with and what we initially had agreed to in the framework agreement, those are all the same numbers. Anything beyond this is going to be obviously over and above. We’re in a position right now, hopefully we can make our product better in the short term and long term.”

The framework agreement is the initial deal struck back in June in private meetings that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and select cohorts had with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. The agreement came as a surprise to most in golf, including the PGA Tour’s players, as the backlash included some calling for Monahan’s resignation.

“We were very frustrated with what happened,” Woods said in November, “and we took steps going forward to ensure that the player involvement was not going … we were not going to be left out of the process like we were. So, part of that process was putting me on the board and accepting that position.”

Woods confirmed on Wednesday that he has never met or personally spoken to anyone from PIF, including Al-Rumayyan. He was asked if he has a sense of what Saudi Arabia’s “end game” is in seeking to join forces with the PGA Tour.

“From what their representatives have discussed with us, yes and no,” Woods said, “because that changes and that evolves from a few months ago to what it is currently now.”

Tiger Woods walks with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen during their pro-am round of the Genesis Invitational. Ben Jared

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad,” Woods said. “It’s an ongoing, fluid process.”

In terms of his golf, Woods’ return to Riviera is always somewhat bittersweet. He watched the pros play here as a young child, got his first sponsor’s exemption at Riviera when he was 16, and now hosts the tournament that drives sizeable dollars into his foundation. Yet he still has never lifted the trophy here in 12 tries as a professional.

The closest Woods came was very early in his career, when he lost a playoff in 1998 to Billy Mayfair when the then-Nissan Open was played for one year at Valencia Country Club. The next year, Woods tied for second, losing by two shots to Ernie Els.

Since then, he has two other top-seven finishes but really has not sniffed a victory. Last year, in Woods’ return from two years away after his car accident, he made the cut on the number and eventually tied for 45th.

Woods cited poor putting on Wednesday as a reason for not playing better at Riviera, but he has fared splendidly elsewhere in California on the Poa annua greens at Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach.

“It is frustrating in the sense that this is a golf course that has been to me very comfortable visually,” he said. “It’s a fader’s delight from the tee shots and I have been a pretty good iron player. But for some reason I just haven’t put it together at this event other than one time with a chance. For some reason it just hasn’t happened. Hopefully, it will this week.”

The good news is that Woods seems to be limping less than he has in any of his previous public golf appearances. On Wednesday he had a spirited pro-am group that included Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Los Angeles Angels veteran outfielder Aaron Hicks.

“We had an absolute blast and couldn’t ask for a more perfect weather day,” Woods said. “And we just had a bunch of fun talking trash, telling stories and just enjoying just a really fun day.”

Despite the enormous challenges Woods has faced with his health, these are the times he still cherishes.

“I still love competing, I love playing, I love being a part of the game of golf,” he said. “This is the game of a lifetime, and I don’t ever want to stop playing. I love being able to compete; I love being able to enjoy different conversations from across time.

“For instance, like today, to be able to play with two great athletes, the cross-pollination doesn’t happen with other sports. And this game, I love that, and I don’t ever want to lose that.”

Main image: Tiger Woods speaks to the media on Wednesday ahead of the Genesis Invitational. Ronald Martinez

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