Tiger Woods misses crucial short putt in TGL comeback: ‘Kicked our ass’
Tiger Woods’ long-awaited return to competitive golf on Tuesday evening was swift. Woods and his team at Jupiter Links were dusted by Los Angeles GC to lose the 2026 TGL Finals. It took only 10 holes to finish Jupiter 9-2.
While Woods put up a few outstanding scores with a few swings on his return, it was his worst moment — a missed putt short of a crucial hole — that might have changed the game.
Tiger Woods starts his comeback with a 2-bomber, 318-yard stinger
Tuesday night’s TGL action was Woods’ first competitive golf event in more than a year, with a TGL match in early March 2025. His last time playing a real tournament was July 2024.
With that in mind, the best thing to come out of Tiger’s brief foray back into competitive golf is that his swing looks good, albeit a small sample.
After hitting a nice lag putt to set up a gimme birdie on the first hole, Tiger took his first swing at the par-5 2nd hole, known as “The Caves.”
The TGL return of Tiger Woods brought electricity but did not provide the answer to his Masters question
By:
Josh Schrock
After Tom Kim hit the tee shot for Jupiter, Tiger connected a 3-wood 272 yards to the right edge of the green, just 24 feet from the hole.
ESPN TV both seemed impressed with the photo, “What about that? That looks really good,” said one commentator.
Jupiter will win the hole to take a 1-0 lead in this match. After a sand wedge and a few putts, Woods finally hit another full putt on the 6th hole, and it was the best of the night.
On the signature “Stinger” hole, Woods hit one of his trademark shots, dropping the driver under an overhanging rock and 318 yards down the fairway.
However, the sting of the exemplary Tiger was finally dismissed. LA, represented by Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Sahith Theegala, hammered the Hammer down the hole, then won it with a birdie make from Theegala.
Suddenly, the game ended in a 2-2 tie.
From there, things went from bad to worse for Woods and Jupiter Links.
On the next hole, the 250-yard par-3 “Cenote,” Homa hit his drive to 18 feet, and Rose missed the LA green.
Theegala hit a clutch chip to four feet, setting up an easy putt by Fleetwood that gave LA a 3-up.
Kim hit next on Jupiter, and he didn’t hit much. Facing 18 feet, he left Tiger with more than three feet to tie the hole.
As ESPN cameras zoomed in, Woods stopped the ball, took his stroke, then watched as his ball caught the edge of the cup and bounced out.
The miss drew a small club from the 15-time major champion, as he lowered his putter to his offensive ball. But with the turf green, no damage is done to the putting surface.
LA won the lead 3-2 and never looked back. Three holes later, LA officially wrapped up their tournament title with a 9-2 win.
Immediately after the match, Woods did not hide his frustration with the result or himself.
“We kicked our ass at the end… We didn’t respond, and I missed a short one at first to start, I gave them the momentum, and I couldn’t come back,” Woods said Tuesday night.
Later, during Jupiter’s post-match press conference, Woods took a shot at his shorthanded mistake when asked if Jupiter’s missing teammate, Akshay Bhatia, would have helped the team on Tuesday night.
“Maybe he could have made that two-footer that I missed,” Woods joked.
He continued: “We had to capture the fort, unfortunately we didn’t capture it.”
And with that, Woods’ brief “comeback” was over. We don’t know when we will see him compete next. He also confirmed on Tuesday that he is trying his best to get his body and game ready for the Masters. But he also did not commit to playing. His decision needs to come soon, however. The 2026 Masters starts in two weeks.
