PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods competed for the primary time in additional than a 12 months and that wasn’t practically sufficient to cease Los Angeles Golf Club, which made three straight eagles to shut out a 9-2 victory within the TGL finals Tuesday evening to seize the SoFi Cup.
Woods had been captain and cheerleader for Jupiter Links as he recovered from October again surgical procedure. He determined Monday night after Los Angeles rallied to win the primary match within the best-of-three sequence that he was able to play, changing Kevin Kisner.
His largest second was lacking a 3-foot putt on the seventh gap, after which he slammed his putter to the turf in disgust. That gave LAGC momentum, and it turned so rapidly that the 15-hole match led to 10 holes.
“We got our ass kicked at the end,” Woods mentioned. “Three eagles in a row. … I missed a short one to give them momentum, and we never got it back.”
Woods had mentioned earlier that enjoying TGL was only a step. He gave no indication when the match was over whether or not he would play within the Masters on April 9-12.
“This body … it doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn’t mean I’m not trying,” he mentioned. “I’ve had a couple bad injuries here over the past years that I’ve had to fight through and it’s taken some time. But I keep trying.
“I need to play. I really like the match. I’m going to be there both manner with The Loop [a short course he designed] that is going up there, in addition to the champions dinner. … We’ll see the way it goes. I’ll be practising, enjoying at dwelling this week and hold attempting to make progress.”
His quick miss gave Los Angeles its first lead at 3-2, and Tommy Fleetwood adopted by making a 12-foot eagle putt on the reachable par-4 eighth.
Max Homa had suggested earlier throwing a hammer — that makes the hole worth two points — if Jupiter took advantage on a par-5 during alternate shot. That backfired.
Fleetwood drove into a bunker, and Woods hit 3-wood to keep it short of the bunker. Homa hit the approach to 15 feet for an eagle chance, but Justin Rose hit a magnificence out of the bunker to simply inside 15 ft. Tom Kim missed Jupiter’s eagle putt, and Sahith Theegala swirled in his eagle putt for a 6-2 lead going into singles play.
That lasted one hole.
Homa missed the fairway on a reachable par-5 and had to lay up. Rose hit the fairway and his second shot rolled out to 4 feet. LAGC threw the hammer (making the hole worth three points) and Homa had to make his putt to have any chance. He missed, the eagle was conceded and Los Angeles Golf Club walked off with the $9 million team prize.
“It sucked,” Homa told ESPN. “Not going to provide you an entire lot greater than that.”
Homa said later he thought Jupiter had to win the hole to extend the matches.
“It was only a actually dumb transfer on my half,” he mentioned.
Jupiter Links won $4.5 million.
For Woods, it was about playing again, even in an indoor golf league. He last played in early March 2025 before rupturing an Achilles tendon, and then he had a seventh back surgery in October.
His first full swing was 3-wood from 279 yards just off the green that set up birdie for a 1-0 lead. Jupiter went ahead 2-0 when Woods lagged a 45-foot putt to a foot for a conceded birdie. That was the extent of his highlights.
Still uncertain is whether Woods decides to be the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland. The PGA of America is hopeful of an answer by the end of the month.
His mind was only on the match he played.
“It felt nice to be again with these guys,” Woods said. “Frustrated we did not get it achieved. We had alternatives. It feels good to be again. I’d wish to be again in higher circumstances.”
