Tiger Woods at Farmers Insurance Open: New Beginning on Old Ground

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PGATOUR.COM nailed it in a preview of the Farmers Insurance Open that tees off on Thursday at Torrey Pines. While defending champion and new World No. 2 Jon Rahm is red hot coming off his second PGA Tour victory at the CareerBuilder Challenge, “seemingly everyone is talking about the 647th ranked player in the world.”

That player, of course, is Tiger Woods.

His back fused and free of pain, Woods is poised to make his first official start of 2018 at Torrey Pines, where he has been winning golf tournaments since he was 15. Tiger likes this place. A lot.

That first win in the 1991 Junior World Golf Championship was the beginning of many victory laps for Woods on the North and South courses situated by the scenic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Since then Tiger has racked up seven wins at the Farmers Insurance Open. And his 14th major title also came at Torrey Pines, the epic 2008 U.S. Open that saw him go 91 holes on a broken leg to outlast pesky journeyman Rocco Mediate.

Now Tiger is 42 and starting over against a new breed of PGA Tour stars. Some are players awed and inspired by Tiger in their youth but who now fear no one on the golf course.

“I haven’t played a full schedule since 2015,” Woods told the media. “To be honest with you, I just want to start playing on the tour and getting into a rhythm of playing a schedule again. I haven’t done that in such a long time, so I don’t know what to expect. Just go out there and just play. I’m going to grind it, give it everything I possibly have.”

Woods will play the first two rounds with Patrick Reed and Charley Hoffman. On Thursday the grouping tees off at 1:40 p.m. ET on the 1st hole of the South Course. On Friday they tee off at 12:30 p.m. ET on the 10th hole of the North Course.

PGA TOUR Live, PGA TOUR Radio, Golf Channel and CBS Sports will have complete coverage of all four days of the Farmers Insurance Open.

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Neil Sagebiel

Neil Sagebiel is a golf writer and author of two golf books published by St. Martin's Press, THE LONGEST SHOT and DRAW IN THE DUNES. He lives in Floyd, Virginia.
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