Tiger Woods withdraws from PGA Tour event through illness

Tiger Woods finished the first round of the Genesis Invitational with a one over par

Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the PGA Genesis Invitational due to illness, the organising body has announced.

Woods returned to the tour with a one-over-par 72 in California, on his first round of an official PGA Tour event since having ankle surgery.

The 15-time major champion, tournament host this week, finished Thursday’s opening round at the Riviera Country Club on one-over par.

But the American could not back that up a day later as he withdrew after six holes due to illness.

Woods started in fine form, producing a birdie on the first, but back-to-back bogeys arrived from the fourth and he called it a day after a third par of the day on the sixth left him one over for his round.

In April, the 48-year-old withdrew from round three of the Masters after a recurring heel pain problem, and underwent an operation to correct a complication from a previous ankle fracture.

Tiger Woods made his return to golf at the Genesis Invitational in California (USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con)

In fact since injuring his leg in a car crash in 2021, Woods has had a limited return to professional golf, his most recent win came before that, at the 2019 Zozo Championship in Japan.

After the first round, Woods, who is a 15-time major champion, was tied for 49^th, but since then he has withdrawn from the event.

Only the top 50 and those within 10 shots would make the halfway cut, which he would have been in with a chance of, had he been able to continue.

"My back was spasming the last couple holes and it was locking up," Woods said, reported by AP.

“As far as the physical ups and downs, that’s just part of my body, that’s part of what it is,” he said.

“That’s all right. I accept it and accept the challenges.”

On his performance in the first round, Woods added: “A lot of good and a lot of indifferent. It was one or the other.”

“I don’t know how many pars I had – wasn’t many (seven). I was either making birdies or bogeys and just never really got anything consistent going today.”

With reporting from AP