Woods announced Monday he is withdrawing from the event, which is taking place at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego this year instead of Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles due to damage caused by the recent wildfires in the Pacific Palisades area. Woods cited the death of his mother, Kultida Woods, less than a week ago as the reason for his change of heart.
‘I planned to tee it up this week, but I’m just not ready,’ Woods wrote in a statement released on social media. ‘I did my best to prepare, knowing it’s what my Mom would have wanted, but I’m still processing her loss. Thanks to everyone who has reached out. I hope to be at Torrey later in the week and appreciate the continued kindness since my Mom’s passing.’
Woods hasn’t played in a full-fledged, professional golf tournament since The Open Championship last July, when he missed the cut. He said in December at the Hero World Challenge — another tournament he hosts in the Bahamas — that he was not physically ready and ‘not sharp enough’ yet to compete against the best golfers on the PGA Tour following another back surgery last September.
Woods has since played at the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie Woods, in December. Woods also played two matches with his Jupiter Links GC team in the TGL, the virtual golf league he co-founded along with a group of investors that includes Rory McIlroy.
Woods’ decision to pull out of The Genesis Invitational comes one day after a White House pool report confirmed that Woods and his son, Charlie, played a round of golf with President Donald Trump Sunday morning at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida. The PGA Tour recently put out a release signed by Woods, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and golfer Adam Scott saying Monahan and Scott met with Trump at the White House last week about helping to unify professional golf.
It’s unclear when Woods might elect to make his 2025 PGA Tour debut. Next month’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and The PLAYERS Championship loom as possibilities on the schedule before The Masters in April.