15 February 2024 , 17:02
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Tiger Woods has warned his fellow stars that he has set his sights on winning a record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour title at this week's Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
Woods is making his first start of the season at the Genesis, on a week that he is also acting as tournament host. The 48-year-old currently sits on a 82 wins on the PGA Tour, tying the record with the great Sam Snead following his last win at the ZOZO Championship in 2019.
Almost four years on, the 15-time major champion is still hoping he has what it takes to compete against the best and rewrite the record books, starting in Los Angeles this week.
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The event is one close to the heart of Woods. He made his Tour debut around Riviera as a 16-year-old, before more recently taking on hosting duties. Remarkably though, the former world No. 1 is yet to get over the line at the event throughout his career. Unsurprisingly, he is out to change that this week.
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"A [win] would be nice, right?" he said about his target for the event. "I haven't ever won this event. I played in this event since '92 and the years I've played I still have never won this event. Hopefully I can figure something out and get myself in there in contention and maybe get a W at the end of the week."
The hunt for win No. 83 has proved tough for Woods since claiming the ZOZO just over three years ago, having battled a whole host of fitness issues. In February 2021, the American suffered career-threatening injuries in a car crash, forcing him to miss 14 months of action before returning at the 2022 Masters.
Tiger Woods makes his return to the PGA Tour this week (2024 Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)On the back of his comeback at Augusta, Woods would only feature on two more occasions in 2022, one being a withdrawal from the PGA Championship due to the toll taken on his body. The 2023 campaign was more of the same; he made his return at last year's Genesis before once again being sidelined through injury after withdrawing from the Masters two months later.
He made a final appearance at the season-ending Hero World Challenge last December, and is next set for his first outing in over two months this week. The issue that kept him sidelined for the majority of the last campaign was one with his ankle, but Woods gave a positive update on the injury in Wednesday's press conference.
"Yeah, my ankle doesn't hurt anymore because no bones are rubbing anymore," he claimed. "But then again, it's different. Other parts of my body have to take the brunt of it.Just like my back is fused so other of my body have taken the brunt of that. I have twodifferent body parts that are now fused. Yeah, other parts of the body have to adapt."