Tiger Woods made his return to competitive golf after a year away from action, but things didn’t go exactly to plan as his Jupiter Links Golf Club was beaten resoundingly in the final of the second season of the TGL league in Los Angeles. After a one-sided loss, Woods told reporters at the event that he and his teammates got their ‘a** kicked’, before casting doubt over his participation at next month’s Masters at Augusta National.
Woods made his competitive return following an Achilles tear and a disk replacement surgery to boot in 2025. He hasn’t played on the PGA Tour since The Open in 2024, and is seeking a return to major golf tournaments at the age of 50.
However, Woods cut a frustrated figure after he and his teammates succumbed to a 9-2 loss in the final, being downed by the Los Angeles Golf Club in this unique virtual-meets-traditional event held at the SoFi Stadium in California.
“We got our a** kicked in the end,” Woods said on the broadcast. “Three eagles in a row and we didn’t respond. I missed a short one at the beginning to get it started, give them momentum, and we never got it back.”
Missed four-footer triggers Tiger’s rage
The scoring format of the event sees two teams competing over 15 holes, with points on offer for each hole won and additional points following special power-ups. Woods’ team took a 2-0 lead but were soon levelled up with by a team headlined by British golfers Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose, and had some good moments with a few 300+ yard drives, including one memorable 318-yard stinger on the sixth hole which rolled back the years.
However, a missed four-foot putt on the seventh hole was the worst moment of the day for Tiger, who was clearly incensed and besides himself with rage at missing a standard putt, hammering his club into the surface.
“It feels good to be back but I would like to have been back in better circumstances,” said Woods, who co-owns the Jupiter Links GC alongside David Blitzer. The winning LAGC team is co-owned by Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Alexis Ohanian.
Woods not certain about return
The TGL is meant to act as a warmup event for Woods ahead of The Masters at Augusta National next month, starting on April 9, an event that Tiger has won five times – first in 1997, and latest in 2019. However, it is far from a certainty at age 50 and given his physical condition.
“The body doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn’t mean I’m not trying [to return]. I’ve been trying for a while,” said Woods following the event. “I’ve had a couple bad injuries here over the past years that I’ve had to fight through and it’s taken some time.”
“I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes. I’ll be practicing, playing at home this week and keep trying to make progress,” concluded the legendary golfer, whom fans will be expecting to see on the famous grounds in Georgia in a couple weeks’ time.
