Tiger Woods' 2018 schedule may have a starting point, and it could be in Los Angeles.
Woods plans to play in the 2018 Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., according to a Golfweek report, citing a source familiar with Woods' planning and thinking.
The idea of Woods playing the Genesis Open isn't that much of a revelation. After all, Woods' TGR Live tournament management business runs the event, so it's in Woods' interest to participate. The 14-time major champion first played in the old Los Angeles Open in 1992 as a 16-year-old amateur.
Woods intended to play in the event last year before a flare-up of his back problems in Dubai forced him to pull out of several planned starts, including at Riviera. Woods attended the event but withdrew from his planned news conference, unable to function in a way that would allow him to sit and get peppered with questions about his back for a while.
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, told Golf Channel that there haven't been final decisions made around Tiger Woods' 2018 schedule, but it's not hard to imagine this being the second planned start. Woods could play in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines outside of San Diego from Jan. 25-28, then play in the old Los Angeles Open three weeks later.
Woods would then likely head home to Florida and play in The Honda Classic the next week at PGA National. He could conceivably then aim to play three weeks later at the Arnold Palmer Invitational as a final event before preparing to enter the Masters.
At the Hero World Challenge in December 2017, Woods came back after a 301-day absence and finished tied for ninth in the 18-man field in the Bahamas.
