Tiger Woods has two heroes and mentors in golf, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
In addition to chasing down their records on the course, Woods wanted to emulate another aspect of their careers: host an elite PGA Tour event.
After an association earlier in his career with The National, a July tournament in Washington and Philadelphia that folded because of sponsorship issues, Woods seems to have settled on the Genesis Invitational as the event associated with his name now and in the future.
The Genesis Invitational, a Tour Signature Event, begins on Thursday at the Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, Calif. It was moved from its traditional site at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades because of the Los Angeles wildfires but will return there in 2026.
Tiger Woods began hosting in 2020
Woods and the Tour announced his association with the tournament in 2019, for the 2020 tournament. It was upgraded from a regular Tour event (and one with a long, rich history, dating back to 1926) with a $20 million purse, an elite field (46 of the top 50 players on the world rankings are entered this week) and 700 FedEx Cup points for the winner.
The tournament’s main charity is Woods’ TGR Foundation, which impacts children and youth through education. More than 200,000 have been served through TGR Learning Labs in Los Angeles, Anaheim, Calif., and Philadelphia and Educator Professional Learning program.
The PGA Tour was only too willing to agree to Woods’ association with the tournament, given his 82 Tour titles, 15 major championships, two Players championships and a name that still resonates in the sport despite not winning since the 2019 Masters.
“In recognition of Tiger’s place alongside Jack and Arnold as a modern-day golf icon who hosts a home-based PGA Tour tournament, plus the common thread of doing exceptional philanthropic work through his TGR Foundation, elevating the Genesis Open is an important and deserved step toward further cementing Tiger’s legacy in our sport,” Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a 2019 statement.
Tiger Woods made PGA Tour debut in Genesis
Woods played his first PGA Tour event in the forerunner to the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 1992. It was also the site of Nicklaus’ professional debut in 1962, where he tied for 50th and earned $33.33.
“To be included with two of the greatest golfers of all-time, in my hometown and at an event that benefits my TGR Foundation is something I could never have imagined when I first visited Riviera with my Pop,” Woods said in a statement in 2019.
In addition to Woods’ first PGA Tour start, the Genesis (when it was the L.A. Open) marked the first time a woman played in a PGA Tour event when Babe Zaharias played in 1938. It also was one of two PGA Tour victories won by pioneering African-American player Charlie Sifford, whose name is honored with the Genesis Invitational Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption given each year to a player “who represents the advancement of diversity in golf.”
Two of the Sifford Exemption recipients, J.J. Spaun and Cameron Champ, have gone on to become PGA Tour winners.
Tiger Woods has never won the Genesis
There are 25 winners of the Genesis Invitational in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Oddly enough, Woods is not one of them. He never won the tournament but came closest in 1998, when he lost to Billy Mayfair in a playoff.
It was Woods’ only loss in 12 playoffs and the Genesis Invitational remains the only PGA Tour event in California that Woods has played and never won.
He announced last week that he would make his 2025 debut this week at Torrey Pines, but then reversed field on Monday and said he would not play, saying his game is not where he wants it to be.
Woods hosts an off-season event, the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. Scottie Scheffler won in December, the 25th playing of the tournament.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour: Tiger Woods and Genesis Invitational have a long history
