Los Angeles (AFP)
Tiger Woods has formalized his participation in the Genesis Invitational from February 13 to 16 in Los Angeles, a tournament he has been organizing since 2017 and now enjoys "high" status.
The Genesis at the Riviera Country Club is of particular importance to "The Tiger" as he made his grand debut on the PGA Tour in 1992 when he was only 16 and still playing as an amateur. .
Known to date as the Genesis Open, the event, organized since 2017 by the Woods Foundation, is gaining importance as a result of being placed in the invitation category.
In this capacity, he is on the same level as Arnold Palmer Invitational, organized by Palmer before his death in 2016, and Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament.
"It's an honor for us to be in the same category" as the tournaments of these two legends, said Woods, who recently won his 82nd PGA tournament, the ZOZO Championship in Japan.
If he has participated 13 times in this tournament, Woods has never won.
The winner will receive a three-year exemption instead of the two years traditionally granted to most events on the PGA Tour. The number of players is limited to 120 and the endowment will be $ 9.3 million, 1.9 million more than in 2019.
"Being the host of this event every year at the Riviera, where everything started for me, is like closing the loop," added the man with the 15 titles in Grand Slam, returned to the top of his form this year winning the Masters for the fifth time in April.
© 2019 AFP