Tiger Woods loves playing at Torrey Pines.
Not only is this seaside track in La Jolla the spot of his last major victory at the 2008 U.S. Open, he’s won seven other times as a professional here. Add that to the six Junior World titles he has and Woods has more wins at Torrey Pines than any other major golf course.
“It’s always fun to come here,” said Woods after shooting an even-par 72 on Sunday to finish the Farmers Insurance Open 3-under par, a score that will likely earn him a Top-30 finish. “This is near and dear to my heart. This is like home. I was born and raised about 40 minutes from here. To see some of my friends from high school out here, just things like that. And the people were absolutely fantastic all week. They were loud. They were excited. But they were very respectful. It was nice to play in front of the people like that and overall I think I did pretty well this week.”
This is the first time Woods has made the cut at a PGA Tour event since August of 2015 so it’s the first time he’s played 72 holes with his surgically-repaired back. Woods said after his round he was happy with being pain-free for four rounds. As of right now he's scheduled to play again at Riviera from Feb. 15-18 but other than that hasn’t decided on when or where he’ll tee it up again.
“We want to see how I was feeling after one tournament,” said Woods. “I’ll go back home and kind of reassess where I’m at and keep doing that. I mean these are things that honestly I can’t tell you. I don’t know what my body can do yet. I’m still learning it.”
Completing the Farmers Insurance Open should be a great sign for the world’s most popular player. At 7,698 yards Torrey Pines South is the longest non-major course on the PGA Tour. Plus the conditions on Sunday were not conducive to going low. The temperature rose to the low-80’s with winds whipping across the course, making an already challenging track even more difficult.
“It was dry greens. They were hard. They were difficult this week and I thought I did well.”
But did he do well enough to make us think the man who a decade ago was the most dominant athlete on the planet can return to his major-winning form?
“I’m only 42. That’s not that old. Davis (Love III) won when he was in his 50’s. Vijay (Singh) did well all throughout his 40’s. It’s very possible out here for us.”
