Tiger Woods was forced to withdraw from the Genesis Invitational golf tournament Friday after suffering symptoms of a flu-like illness.
Woods was in the second round when he abruptly left the competition and was seen making several restroom stops on his way off the course. A spokesperson later confirmed that Woods had come down with an illness that forced him to abandon the tournament, according to Yahoo Sports.
The Genesis Invitational was Woods’s first competition in PGA play since the Masters Tournament in 2023, where he also withdrew after re-aggravating a plantar fasciitis injury. Woods has struggled to return to competition since being involved in a car accident in 2021 that caused significant injuries to his legs, but Friday’s illness is not believed to be serious, according to Woods’ manager Rob McNamara.
“[He] woke up this morning, they were worse than the night previous,” McNamara said. “He had a little bit of a fever and that, and was better during the warm-up, but then when he got out there and was walking and playing, he started feeling dizzy.
“Ultimately the doctors are saying he’s got some — potentially some type of flu and that he was dehydrated. He’s been treated with an IV bag and he’s doing much, much better and he’ll be released on his own here soon.”
In addition to the illness, Woods was suffering from back spasms Thursday in the first round that might have led to a shanked shot on what should have been a fairly simple approach. Woods had a spinal fusion surgery in 2017 and surgery to repair arthritic damage to his foot last year.
Golfers playing with Woods on Thursday and Friday said it was apparent the star was struggling. McNamara confirmed that by Friday, Woods was not having problems with either his back or ankle and that it was solely the illness and resulting dehydration that forced his withdrawal.
Before the 2024 season, Woods expressed a desire to play in one tournament a month through the year to play in all four major championships. Woods is likely to play in either the Arnold Palmer Classic or the Players Championship held next month.
At the time of his withdrawal, Woods was one-over-72 and significantly trailing leader Patrick Cantlay, whose performance Friday gave him an even greater lead ahead of the third round to be held Saturday.
