Tiger Woods’ return to golf was emotional after mother’s death

Tiger Woods’ return to the competitive golf landscape following the passing of his mother Kultida, who died on Feb. 4 at the age of 80, was an understandably emotional one.

Woods joined his Jupiter Links Golf teammates Kevin Kisner and Tom Kim in a match against New York Golf Club on Tuesday night. Woods’ mother was present at his first two TGL matches — as she was almost any time he teed it up. The last time we saw Tida, Tiger was waving to her at his second TGL match and promising he “wouldn’t suck” as he did in his simulator league debut.

That made Tuesday night’s return all the more meaningful for the 15-time major champion.

“I think that she really enjoyed watching me play,” Woods said after Jupiter’s loss. “It was awesome to have her in the stands and watching us play and having the kids here and family and friends. It was a great moment. I’m definitely appreciative of her being here.”

Woods withdrew from last week’s Genesis Invitational to continue to grieve the loss of his mother. He said he hasn’t hit balls since playing golf with President Donald Trump on Super Bowl Sunday so the two could discuss the status of the PGA Tour’s deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

Woods was in good spirits on Tuesday night, including laughing off a shot where he accidentally hit a wedge from 199 yards.

However, golf is not the top priority for Woods at the moment, and his short trip to the SoFi Center was a difficult one.

“I had a hard time driving down here,” Woods said. “I hadn’t hit a golf ball since I played with the President and just put everything away and shut it off. I had a really hard time getting here and then reliving all the moments that we’ve had, my mom, how excited she was to have Charlie drive her here. So those are some great moments and great memories.”

While Tiger’s father Earl got a lot of the publicity for his role in Woods’ rise, it is Tida who is credited with instilling in her son the things that defined his legendary career, including his killer instinct.

That competitive nature that helped shape Woods at a young age also extended to Tiger’s newest venture, the TGL.

“Probably spent the most time with her here at TGL actually the first two weeks,” Kisner said on Tuesday. “She made sure to let me know how poorly I played in the first match and then was so excited in the second match that we won and turned it around. She was so competitive and loved watching us win, and I think that’s a great memory for me. Obviously, I’ve known Tiger a long time and always there to support him and always will be.”

Tiger entered the season with a plan to play as much as possible in the lead-up to the Masters. However, he has not played a competitive round yet this season and is still unsure of when he’ll make his 2025 debut.

“I really haven’t thought about golf,” Woods said. “So I don’t think I’m going to be thinking about it for just a little bit here.”