LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods’ return is over.
Woods withdrew from The Genesis Invitational, the event he hosts each year in Southern California and the first official tournament he’s played since last year’s Masters, on Friday afternoon due to an illness.
Woods hit his tee shot on the seventh hole at Riviera Country Club after a rough start to his second round. After hitting his drive and landing in the fairway, Woods hopped in a cart and left the course, signaling the end of his tournament. He was seen putting his head in his hands at one point on the ride back to the clubhouse.
At the time, Woods was 1-over for his round and 2-over for the tournament.
The Tour and rules official Mark Dusbabek then confirmed that Woods had withdrawn due to an illness. Woods stopped into the bathroom multiple times through his six holes. He was also spotted bent over and leaning on a cooler at the fifth tee box, clearly uncomfortable. According to Woods’ longtime business partner and manager Rob McNamara, he started feeling some “flu-like symptoms” after Thursday’s round.
“[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.”
Woods walked out of the clubhouse on his own and got in a vehicle to leave the course shortly after McNamara’s comments. An ambulance was called to Riviera due to a “medical request,” but neither Woods nor anybody else was transported away in that ambulance.