The Daily Sweat: Tiger Woods looks to go under par again in Round 2 of the Genesis Invitational
Woods shot a 2-under 69 in the first round
Can Tiger Woods make the cut at the Genesis Invitational?
Woods shot a 2-under 69 on Thursday and is five shots behind leader Max Homa after the first round. The tournament is Woods’ first competitive event since he played in the British Open in July of 2022 and his first non-major since 2020.
Woods ended his round with three consecutive birdies to get under par and put himself in a position to be a fringe contender on the weekend with another solid round. Woods birdied the first hole on Thursday before making the turn at 1-under. He struggled a bit but then put on a vintage performance over the final three holes.
The 15-time major winner was +160 at BetMGM to make the cut ahead of the tournament and is at +120 on Friday to shoot 1-under or better. He’s +100 to make four or more birdies and eagles and +225 to birdie the first hole. Woods will tee off on No. 10 with playing partners Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy at 10:24 a.m. ET and bogeyed the hole on Thursday when he hit his first shot into a bunker well short of the green and then took four more shots from there.
The 10th hole is a 300-yard par 4 that is reachable with driver or 3-wood because of the elevated tee. But the green is one of the toughest in golf and a tricky pin position can mean a birdie is extremely tough.
Woods is also +650 to have an eagle on Friday and +2000 to have a bogey-free round. Neither of those things happened on Thursday. Woods had five birdies and three bogeys.
Odds to win Genesis Invitational
Woods was +12500 to win the tournament before it began and is at +8000 after the first round. Woods was walking slower as the round went on Thursday because of his right ankle issues and his myriad lower-body surgeries. He said after his round that he would be looking to get in a good workout and a “big sweat” before teeing off on Friday.
Jon Rahm is a shot back of Homa and is the current tournament favorite at +300. Homa is at +450 while McIlroy is at +650 and Collin Morikawa is at +850. There are 10 players at +3000 or better to win the tournament and a lot of them are names casual golfers recognize. The Genesis is a designated event on the PGA Tour and 23 of the top 25 players in the world are playing in the tournament.
Light basketball slate
With the NBA beginning its All-Star Weekend, there are no pro games on Friday night and no ranked men’s college basketball teams in action. There aren’t even any men’s games in a Power Five conference.
The biggest conference in action on Friday night is the Mountain West. Air Force heads to Wyoming and New Mexico plays at San Jose State. Wyoming is a 4.5-point favorite over the Falcons and New Mexico is a 1.5-point underdog at SJSU. The Lobos are 19-7 but have lost five of their last six contests and their last two losses have come by a combined 26 points.
Who cashed tickets Thursday?
The Bucks lost Giannis Antetokounmpo to a right wrist sprain and still beat the Chicago Bulls 112-100. The Washington Wizards got a 114-106 road win over the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Clippers beat a Kevin Durant-less Phoenix Suns team 116-107.
