PACIFIC PALISADES — We received a cruel reminder Friday of just how much Tiger Woods still means to the PGA Tour, and to golf in general.
He is no longer the Old Tiger, more like an old Tiger. He has a new personally-branded line of apparel – named after those red shirts he always wore on those Sundays when he was in the hunt – but he realistically can’t be expected to win every time out or even come close, as was the case in the old days.
When he teed it up this week at Riviera, it was his first PGA Tour activity since last year’s Masters, when injuries to his leg and ankle forced him out after two rounds and ultimately led to ankle surgery.
And when he rode back to the clubhouse on a cart on Friday after a 272-yard tee shot into the fairway on the seventh hole, withdrawing because of illness … well, a Golf Channel commentator put it this way: “The crowd is murmuring as they try to figure out where they want to go next.”
It wasn’t his back or his ankle, two of the maladies that have limited him in recent years. It was flu-like symptoms and dehydration. But the effect was the same: A gut punch to a tournament that had figured to draw patrons, and TV viewers, thanks to Woods’ presence.
“Woke up this morning, (the symptoms) were worse than the night previous,” said Rob McNamara, the executive vice president of TGR Ventures, speaking for Tiger on Friday afternoon. “He had a little bit of a fever, and that was better during the warm-up, but then when he got out there and was walking and playing, he started feeling dizzy.
“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.”
Gary Woodland, who was one of Woods’ playing partners – and was in the tournament on a sponsor’s exemption from Woods, the tournament host, after missing much of 2023 with a brain tumor and undergoing surgery in September – said he could tell Woods was not feeling well. “He just didn’t…
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