Tiger Woods is back playing competitive golf on the PGA Tour and he’s already getting into mischief. The 15-time Grand Slam champion watched as he handed Justin Thomas a tampon after beating him during the first round of the Genesis Invitational Open yesterday at the Riviera Country Club.
Tiger Woods gifts Justin Thomas a tampon
Not something you thought you’d see while watching the first round of the Genesis Invitational Open on the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods, who was grouped with Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas in their first two rounds, was seen giving Thomas a tampon after apparently out-pinging him during yesterday’s round.
Woods returned to action on the PGA Tour after 271 days since his last competitive round of golf. The 15-time Grand Slam champion delighted fans in California by hitting a two-under-par 69 that included three straight birdies to end his round.
Woods finished his round at -2 par and is tied for 27th after the first round, beating the likes of world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler, among many others. Woods appears to be having a good time on the course, enjoying 18 holes with two of his closest friends on the PGA tour in McIlroy and Thomas.
Even though he nearly lost his leg in a life-threatening car accident two years ago, the 47-year-old was connecting for drives of more than 330 yards. After seeing Thomas fail to match his distance on the ninth hole, Woods was seen handing the world number seven a tampon.
Thomas hastily tossed the tampon to the ground, before the couple hugged and laughed as they made their way down ninth street. You would never have seen anything like this from the man from Florida years ago. But now, he’s clearly having more merrily fun on the golf course and enjoying being back.
Tiger Woods had a gift for Justin Thomas after passing him at number nine.
(via @GettyImages) pic.twitter.com/HXZEQSAhEU
– Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) February 17, 2023
RELATED: Tiger Woods returns to competitive golf this week at the PGA Tour’s Genesis Open
At the end of their round, Tiger Woods and ‘JT’ shared a poignant moment on the 18th green as McIlroy completed a superb trio of birdies for the group on the final hole.
After his round, Woods spoke to the press about his relationship with Thomas and McIlroy:
“It was a great round. The ebb and flow of poking each other, cheering each other on and telling stories,” Woods said.
“There’s nothing like getting to game time, just getting the butterflies and trying to calm all of that down. The adrenaline, the ball goes further. Even though it’s cold here, it was going further than we expected. I had to redial all of that.”
Of the three players in the group, the Northern Irishman shot the best scorer at a four-under-par 67, while Thomas had a better shot than Woods at -3. McIlroy remains one of the favorites to win this week with the best overseas betting sites.
However, despite shooting the best round of the bunch, McIlroy sarcastically admitted that he didn’t enjoy seeing Tiger’s ball go over his own on a few occasions:
“I’m going to go work at the shooting range. I put my driver in a click in the loft at the beginning of the week. You may have to bring it back down. I don’t like being hit,” said the world number one. 2.
It’s great to see Woods enjoying his golf again with his friends. With only five shots back after round 1, could Woods score a spectacular second round to launch himself straight into contention? Use his free golf bets to back the big man to success this week at Riviera!
