PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods competed for the first time in more than a year and that wasn’t nearly enough to stop Los Angeles Golf Club, which made three straight eagles to close out a 9-2 victory in the TGL finals Tuesday night to capture the SoFi Cup.
Woods had been captain and cheerleader for Jupiter Links as he recovered from October back surgery. He decided Monday evening after Los Angeles rallied to win the first match in the best-of-three series that he was ready to play, replacing Kevin Kisner.
His biggest moment was missing a 3-foot putt on the seventh hole, after which he slammed his putter to the turf in disgust. That gave LAGC momentum, and it turned so quickly that the 15-hole match ended in 10 holes.
“We got our [butts] kicked at the end,” Woods said. “Three eagles in a row. I missed a short one to give them momentum, and we never got it back.”
Woods had said earlier that playing TGL was just a step. He gave no indication when the match was over whether he would play in 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 said. “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 want to play. I love the tournament. I’m going to be there either way with The Loop [a short course he designed] that’s going up there, as well as the champions dinner. … We’ll see how it goes. I’ll be practicing, playing at home this week and keep trying to make progress.”
His short miss gave Los Angeles its first lead at 3-2, and Tommy Fleetwood followed 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 beauty out of the bunker to just inside 15 feet. 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 give you a whole lot more than that.”
Homa said later he thought Jupiter had to win the hole to extend the matches.
“It was just a really dumb move on my part,” he said.
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 great to be back with these guys,” Woods said. “Frustrated we didn’t get it done. We had opportunities. It feels good to be back. I’d like to be back in better circumstances.”
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