Tiger Woods will be back swinging a golf club competitively Tuesday night, and it couldn’t come at a better time for his Jupiter Links TGL team.
Woods told ESPN that he will play in Match 2 of the best-of-3 TGL finals (7 p.m., ESPN, ESPN App), a decision he publicized after Jupiter Links lost a 6-5 nail-biter to Los Angeles in the opener Monday night in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Woods heads the Jupiter team but has sat out all year as he recovers from October back surgery. Jupiter had been using Akshay Bhatia as an alternate, but Bhatia is playing the Hero Indian Open this week in New Delhi on the European tour.
Against L.A. on Monday, Jupiter used Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner and Max Homa. Kisner, who has been in the broadcast booth for NBC during the Florida swing on the PGA Tour, was in the lineup for only the second time since Feb. 2.
Woods’ team, which snuck into the TGL playoffs, very well could be ahead 1-0 in the finals, but Sahith Theegala — who had struggled throughout the night — found the fairway on the 15th and final hole, setting up a two-putt birdie to flip the match and give Los Angeles the victory.
Theegala twice hit tee shots out of play, and hit another drive into a bunker that kept L.A. from reaching the green in two on a par 5. He also missed a 3-foot putt that cost his team a point. But he wound up hitting a winner.
Jupiter led 5-4 going to the par-5 closing hole and LA threw the hammer, meaning the hole was worth two points. Theegala ripped his drive into the fairway to set up a second shot to 35 feet. Kisner’s tee shot just tricked into the rough, he found the rough on his second shot and a wedge came up short of the green. His birdie chip from 20 feet to tie the hole — and win the match — narrowly missed.
Jupiter had taken a 3-2 lead after alternate shot involving all three players through nine holes.
L.A. won the first two holes of singles for the lead, only for Kisner to hit driver onto the green at No. 12 after Theegala had gone into a hazard. That tied the match at 4.
Jupiter regained the lead at 5-4 when Justin Rose three-putted from long range. Kim hit his tee shot on a par 3 to 6 feet and Jupiter threw the hammer. LA accepted, meaning if it lost the hole it would lose the match. Tommy Fleetwood responded with a tee shot to 4 feet for matching birdies.
That sent it to the 15th and final hole, and Theegala’s length — and accuracy — was the difference.
If Jupiter was to win Match 2 on Tuesday night, Match 3 would follow immediately after at the SoFi Center.
Woods, 50, underwent lumbar disk replacement surgery in October. He also ruptured his left Achilles last March.
The 15-time major winner hasn’t played in an event since the Open Championship at Royal Troon in 2024.
He’s been mum on his status for next month’s Masters, noting last week: “I said I’ve been working on it. Sometimes I have good days, sometimes I have bad days. Disk replacement is not a lot of fun.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
