The Genesis will be Woods' first PGA Tour event of 2024 and only his seventh official since sustaining a severe right leg injury in a February 2021 car accident. Woods had completed six holes in Friday's second round and was 1 over par on a day when television footage showed him being kicked off the course. At 2 over par for the tournament, he was 11 strokes behind leader Patrick Cantlay at the tee time and outside the cut line.
McNamara said Woods may have been suffering from “some type of fever” and that he was dehydrated. Woods was treated with an IV bag, he said, adding, “He's doing very well and will be released here soon.” McNamara said the incident was unrelated to any physical injury and that Woods' back is “fine.”
Woods, a 15-time major champion who has withdrawn from three of the seven tournaments he has played since a car accident, joins this year's Genesis at last year's Masters and the 2022 PGA Championship.
Woods said he began experiencing back spasms during the last few holes of the first round at Riviera Country Club on Thursday, which he used to explain a shocking shank of an approach shot down the middle of the 18th fairway.
Woods, 48, underwent surgery on his right ankle in April, shortly after withdrawing from the Masters last year. He said on Wednesday his ankle “doesn't hurt anymore. The balls are not rubbed together. But that's different; Other parts of the body must take its burden.
After his round Thursday, Woods blamed his unsightly approach on the 18th on his back.
“The last couple of holes in my back was cramping and it locked up,” he said. “I came down and it wasn't moving. I gave it the hose first and shook it.”
In December, Woods said a schedule of one tournament a month in 2024 would be “realistic” for him, and the Genesis – the “highest” event on the PGA Tour schedule and Woods was allowed to enter. It was his coming-out party that year — only because his foundation ran it.
“I love competing. I love playing,” he said in December. “I miss being here with the guys; I miss the atmosphere of camaraderie and brotherhood here and our banter. But what drives me is I want to compete. There will come a time — and I haven't quite gotten around to it yet — when I won't be able to win again. “When that day comes, I will run away without saying that I will run away.”
