PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA | Here where cinematic dreams are brought to life, it doesn’t take a screenwriter’s imagination to conjure up the borderline romantic notion of Tiger Woods becoming the PGA Tour’s all-time victory leader at Riviera Country Club, where he teed it up on the PGA Tour for the first time 28 years ago.
Imagine the greatest player of his, or perhaps any, generation winning No. 83 at a place where history and timelessness hang in the air like the scent of eucalyptus.
There’s only one nagging problem.
Riviera Country Club is Woods’ white whale.
He’s played 12 tournaments here and he’s never won, though he did finish second once (his other runner-up finish in the tournament now known as the Genesis Invitational came when it was played at Valencia Country Club one year).
It would seem, at least in theory, that Woods and Riviera would go together like Bogey and Bacall (yes, that’s an old person’s reference but Bogey has a tree named for him here at Riviera so it can be excused).
“I’ve played here so many rounds. It suits a natural cutter of the golf ball, so I figured that’s pretty much what I’ve done my entire career. But when it comes right down to it, you’ve got to hit the ball well here because the greens are so small and they’re so slopey.” – Tiger Woods
So far, it’s an unrequited relationship, Woods and Riviera.
“I have historically never really putted well here,” Woods said when asked why he hasn’t won at Riviera. “I’ve played here so many rounds. It suits a natural cutter of the golf ball, so I figured that’s pretty much what I’ve done my entire career.
“But when it comes right down to it, you’ve got to hit the ball well here because the greens are so small and they’re so slopey.”
Two factors are at work on the greens.
Riviera has poa annua surfaces which can get bumpy in the afternoon and that’s at least part of the reason Woods didn’t play this event from 2007 through 2017. He returned in 2018, two years after his TGR Foundation took over management of the tournament.
And, maybe he’s still learning the place.
“For some reason, everything breaks toward (hole No.) 6 and I still haven’t quite figured that out,” Woods said, referencing a par-3 that sits in the lowest corner of the property.
Woods grew up in Cypress, Calif., a small town on the southern side of the Los Angeles megalopolis, making this as close to a home game as he gets. He’s probably talked more about Torrey Pines in San Diego, where he attended his first tournament and has won eight titles, but his ties to the L.A. area (his foundation’s base is in Anaheim) run deep.
It was in 1992 that Woods showed up here as a skinny 16-year-old with shirt sleeves hanging past his elbows, offering a glimpse of the future. Now, he’s host of an event that, like the tournaments attached to Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, gives its winners a three-year PGA Tour exemption, unlike the two years given by other so called “regular” tour events.
It’s a bow toward Woods and all he has accomplished.
“Just to have that elevated status and be part of two iconic figures in the game of golf in Jack and Arnold, to have that type of association, it’s incredible for us,” Woods said. “It’s incredible for the event just to be alongside those two unbelievable heroes of mine. … It’s incredible to me to have played in this event at 16 years old and now have the status we have. It’s so special.”
He still remembers attending what was then called the Los Angeles Open for the first time and rushing over to see Tom Watson play a chip shot near the 11th green, only to be pushed out of the way by Watson’s caddie, Bruce Edwards.
When he shared that story years later with Edwards, the caddie responded, “Well, you were in the way,” Woods said.
“I’ve done well in San Diego, I’ve done well at (nearby) Sherwood (Country Club), just haven’t done well here.” – Tiger Woods
By Thursday, when the demands of playing tournament host have subsided and golf becomes the focus, Woods will make his second attempt at breaking the tie with Sam Snead as the tour’s all-time winner. Woods played well two weeks ago at the Farmers Insurance Open, finishing T9 in his only 2020 start.
Until he wins No. 83, every tournament start for Woods will have an “is this the week?” feel to it.
Because it’s Riviera and because this is in many ways now Woods’ event, it feels amplified this week. In an area still mourning the loss of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and the others on that ill-fated helicopter last month, there is an added emotional element.
Woods and Bryant knew each other and there are times, Woods said Tuesday, that what happened still doesn’t seem real. It’s one more motif to this week’s story.
“I’ve done well in San Diego, I’ve done well at (nearby) Sherwood (Country Club), just haven’t done well here,” Woods said.
“Hopefully I can put it together this week and we’ll have a great conversation on Sunday.”
In a place where such stories are brought to life, this one is still waiting to be told.
Tiger Woods, shown putting on the 18th green during the 2019 Genesis Invitational, says he’s never putted well at Riviera Country Club. Photo: Yong Teck Lim, Getty Images