Ryan Lavner admits worry he has about Tiger Woods after being ‘surprised’ by decision he has made recently

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It has been an incredibly difficult time for Tiger Woods of late with the tragic news that his mother had passed away earlier this month.

While Tiger Woods has kept his guard all the way up for so much of his career when it comes to providing a peak behind the curtain and seeing what life is really like for the 15-time major champion, it was clear just how influential his parents have been on his life.

Of course, one of the best moments from Jupiter Links’ recent win over Boston Common in TGL came when Woods spoke to his mum in the crowd, assuring her that he was going to be better than he had been in his first appearance. Obviously, that light-hearted moment became incredibly poignant given the news of her passing last week.

Woods would be forgiven for wanting to disappear from the spotlight for a while. However, it appears that he is still intending to play at the Genesis Invitational in the coming days – the event he hosts.

This year’s tournament will be played at Torrey Pines after being moved from Riviera. Woods has plenty of happy memories at Torrey, having won the Farmers Insurance Open seven times previously. Meanwhile, he also won the 2008 US Open at the course.

Tiger Woods springs a surprise as he plans to play the Genesis Invitational

However, there are concerns regarding whether Woods is making the right decision teeing it up. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, both Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner admitted that they have been surprised to see Woods remain on course to make his return to the PGA Tour this week.

“This one is curious to me because talking to people inside the camp, there was a feeling that he had moved along enough in his rehab and his game was at a point where he felt confident that he was going to play the Genesis. Even at Torrey Pines, which I would argue is going to be a bit more of a test for him, at least physically than Riviera would have been. After his mother passed away there was worry that he would not play, understandably with the emotions of the moment and what his mother meant to him. I honestly was a little surprised that he decided to go and play. This is probably an indication of where he is with his game right now and what he feels with where his body is,” Hoggard said.

“If you separate the tragedy of losing your mother and you want to be competitive, with the idea being that I want to be competitive that second week in April, where it matters the most, that I need to get more reps in and this just makes sense. I don’t anticipate him playing anywhere else between now and the Masters.

“We talk about Bay Hill but I would be legitimately surprised if he shows up at either one of those tournaments so this one seems like he almost had to play. He has an incredible history here, he has won here eight times including the US Open, so it’s not as if he is showing up and doesn’t know what to expect.”

“I am surprised that Tiger is playing this week, particularly after the tragedy, just taking some time to mourn. I don’t think anyone would have been surprised had he chose to do so. It is not a hard cut to make. 72 players in the field, it is low 50’s and ties. Plus you have the 10 shot rule, which is what you do in these player open invitationals. So you really have got to play poorly to miss the cut. I do worry he could do that,” Lavner replied.

“This is a player in Tiger Woods, who just a couple of weeks ago after he played the TGL match, said his game is not yet quite sharp enough to compete against the world’s best players. So you are going to come up against the top field possible in a PGA Tour signature event and then you are going to one of the most difficult tournament venues on the entire PGA Tour schedule, which is probably going to be more amped up than it was at the Farmers Insurance Open.

“I would not be surprised to see the rough thicker and the greens faster, fairways running out more, to really test the world’s best. It is not conducive for a player who is going to be very rusty and has not had a scorecard in his hand since last July. But as a golf fan it is great to see Tiger Woods make his course debut in 2025.”

Tiger Woods continues to focus on the game of golf

Obviously, no-one has any right to tell Woods how to deal with his grief. Given the life he has led from before he became a superstar, there are probably not too many people around him he trusts unequivocally.

Woods appears to have decided that throwing himself into his work is the best way forward. Woods played a round with Donald Trump this past week as golf continues to try and find a way to end its civil war.

Ultimately, Woods was always going to get all kinds of love from the crowds at Torrey Pines regardless of what was going on away from the course. And you would imagine that there will be some extremely emotional scenes when he does tee it up after such a devastating blow to his family.

Hopefully Woods and his family will find a little comfort in the support coming from the galleries.