10 numbers to know Tiger Woods’ latest comeback

Tiger Woods comes back – again. Golf’s biggest superstar returns to the PGA Tour on next week’s Genesis Invitational and marks his first start of 2025 and his first individual event since last year’s Open Championship.

His start comes with important context. Genesis, typically played at the Riviera Country Club, has been moved to Torrey Pines this year due to Los Angeles’ destructive fires. The tournament is expected to raise money for victims of fires that ravaged several LA neighborhoods, including Pacific Palisades, where they came within blocks of Riviera. Woods announced last month that he was planning to give an update “on our own charitable efforts to help these communities in the coming weeks,” and we expect to hear more about it when Tournament Week is underway.

Woods also plays only a week after the death of his mother, Kuldida. He released a statement on Tuesday that described her as “a natural power”, his “biggest fan” and “greatest supporter.” He plays through heartache.

In other words, there is plenty to focus on other than Woods’ actual golf. But Woods wouldn’t play if he didn’t intend to fight, and it’s only natural for Golffans to chomping in bit to see him back in competition. So what can we reasonably expect on the course? Let’s hum through 10 numbers to be re -oriented to Tiger’s 2025.

10 tiger numbers for 2025

209 – Days between competitive due to tour rounds for Woods; He missed the open cut at Royal Troon on July 19, 2024 and will tie it up on February 13, 2025. We have seen him play golf since then, first on the PNC Championship and recently in two TGL matches. But it’s been a while since we’ve seen the right thing.

8 – Professional events Woods has won at Torrey Pines. He would traditionally start his season at Torrey back when this event was called Buick Invitational (and Woods was a Buick driver); He chose six of these titles, including four in a row from 2005-2008. He won Farmers Insurance 2013 Open, the first of five wins that season. And of course, Woods 2008 won the US Open, one of his biggest victories at all times that came on a broken leg in an 18-hole Monday playoffs. (Woods also won 1991 junior worlds in Torrey Pines as a 15-year-old while we keep track of.) It is reasonable to look at the rough (long) and the course (long) and the weather (cool) and stick this up as a terrible course setup for Woods. But this is also one of the courses where he has won the most.

0 – Times Woods has won Genesis Invitational (or any iteration of the LA Open); It is one of the few events where he has started several starts without victory.

60 – Woods’ best result in 2024; He made the clip at the masters, but shot 82-77 this weekend.

WD – OK, this is not a whole number. But this was Woods’ result at this event last year as he withdrew from the 2024-Genesis Midway through Friday’s second round of influenza-like symptoms.

5 -Year since Woods’ last top-20-finish on PGA Tour (excluding 20-player Hero World Challenge). Shocking, right? It’s crazy to look back to January 2020, when Woods was No. 6 in the world, the ruling Masters champion, the winning player captain of the Presidents Cup and undoubtedly played the best golf of anyone in the world. In his first start of 2020, he ended the T9 – you guess it – Torrey Pines. He has not finished higher than the T38 (at 2020 Masters) in 18 tour starts ago.

7 – tournaments in a row where Woods have lost Blows to the field by approach. Of course, this is another version of Woods, Rusty and Sterned. But it is still shoveling to see that the largest iron player over time consistently hits them at levels below average.

5 – Tournaments in his last six starts where Woods have obtained Blows across the field out of tee. This has been an unexpected bright spot: Even when nothing else has been right, Woods has actually hit the driver pretty well.

1.181 – Woods’ official world gap from this week; He slipped out of the top 1,000 again late last year. Worth noting that he is still the top tiger, though probably in front of the talented 21-year-old Tiger Christensen, a German golfer who left Arizona to become pro last year and is No. 2,048 in the world.

181 – Woods’ top ball speed with driver under TGL competition. Look, there are plenty of reasons to count Woods out at this time. A bad back. A cool forecast. A wide range of ill health and inconsistent games. And the inevitable creep of age. But if you want to be a tiger optimist – and why not? – Here’s a place to start. He can still hit the big ball. A place in there is the biggest player of his generation and a guy with a ridiculous record on Torrey Pines’ South Course.

Should be a fun week.

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