Tiger Woods’ return to the PGA Tour was short-lived and scary.
The 48-year-old was back on the course Thursday for an official event for the first time since the Masters in April. However, on Friday he called it quits due to an illness.
As Yahoo Sports reports, shortly after Woods hit his tee shot on the seventh hole, he hopped in a cart and left the course, signaling the end of his tournament. He was seen putting his head in his hands at one point on the ride back to the clubhouse.
The PGA Tour confirmed that Woods had withdrawn due to an illness. Woods stopped into the bathroom multiple times through his six holes. He was also spotted bent over and leaning on a cooler at the fifth tee box, clearly uncomfortable. According to Woods’ longtime business partner and manager Rob McNamara, he started feeling some “flu-like symptoms” after Thursday’s round.
“[He] woke up this morning, they were worse than the night previous,” McNamara said. “He had a little bit of a fever and that, and was better during the warm-up, but then when he got out there and was walking and playing, he started feeling dizzy.
“Ultimately the doctors are saying he’s got some — potentially some type of flu and that he was dehydrated. He’s been treated with an IV bag and he’s doing much, much better and he’ll be released on his own here soon.”
Withdrawing from his own event must have been especially disappointing. Woods spoke about how special this tournament is to him and how frustrating it has been to never have won Genesis, even for a man with 15 major championships, 82 PGA Tour event wins.