Golf Tiger Woods at The Beginning Invitational

This time the flu is to blame. Tiger Woods’ return to official PGA Tour competition lasted just 24 holes. Woods retired Friday from the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera in Los Angeles after just six holes. He was in tears for seven, but then, feverish and dehydrated, he got into a car and was taken to the clubhouse where he was treated with intravenous fluids and immediately recovered. Rob McNamara, his longtime partner and vice president of TGR Ventures, explained that Woods felt flu-like symptoms on Thursday evening, which worsened when he woke up: “He had a slight fever and was better in the heat, but then , when he went out to the field and started walking and playing, he started feeling dizzy.” Woods then left the Riviera about two hours after retiring, sitting in the front seat of a red SUV. The arrival of an ambulance and a car from the Los Angeles Fire Department also contributed to making the situation more tense. A PGA Tour official said IV fluid bags were needed and there were none at Riviera, so paramedics had to deliver them. Tiger had not played an official event since the Masters last April, when he retired midway through the third round after a rain delay. In December he played the unofficial World Warrior Challenge with a field of just 20 players, with no cutoff, and the 36-hole PNC Championship with his son Charlie. Woods has played just six official tournaments since returning from a car accident in February 2021 in Los Angeles, which broke bones in his right leg. And three times he had to withdraw. Woods’ plans for this year were to play one tournament a month. The next one could be the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida on March 7. In addition to Woods, the Genesis Invitational lost another main character because Jordan Spieth was disqualified for signing the wrong score, scoring a 3 on a hole where he made a 4. It’s the first time this has happened to him in his work. He could play for the win this weekend because after the first two rounds he was only three shots behind leader Patrick Cantlay.