Highlights: Tiger Woods’ opening round at the 2023 Genesis Invitational

Tiger Woods made his first official start since The Open Championship on Thursday at the Genesis Invitational. Woods was greeted by a throng of fans, eager to see how he – and playing competitors Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas – would fare on Day 1 at Riviera Country Club.

It was certainly a good start. After missing the fairway (above) on the par-5 first, Woods laid up and made a birdie-4.

The 82-time Tour winner looked good early, registering 180-mph ball speed on his tee shot at the par-4 third.

A bogey at the par-3 fourth dropped him to even par, but he made sure that he didn’t give another one back at the par-4 fifth, with this nice up and down from a greenside bunker.

Ultimately, the front nine was mostly about making par for Woods. He had another good save below at the sixth and then missed a 13-footer for birdie at the seventh.

But he atoned for that miss by stuffing his approach shot from 113 yards on the par-4 eighth to 3 feet. The birdie moved him back to red numbers.

A 323-yard drive at the ninth put him in position for back-to-back birdies to make the turn, but Woods two-putted for par and a 1-under 34 over his opening half.