Tiger Woods emotional as he returns to TGL after his mother’s death | D’Angelo

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf brought out some raw emotions Tuesday night.

Tiger thought about his mother, Kultida Woods, as he drove to the SoFi Center. Three weeks ago, Kultida, was in the stands to watch her son play his second TGL match.

It would be the last time Kultida would see her son play golf. One week later, Tiger announced on social media his mother had died. She was 78.

“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,” Tiger said about his son.

“So those are some great moments and great memories. It’s been a hard process.”

The last time Tiger played golf was with President Donald Trump five days after his mom died.

Tiger said he was comforted by the support from his Jupiter Links teammates, Kevin Kisner and Tom Kim. Each hugged him when they saw him and during the match they wore a special red pin on their hats to honor his mom.

The pin features the Thai symbol for love and pays tribute to Kultida’s belief that red was Tiger’s power color.

Tiger, who along with Rory McIlroy helped create TGL, withdrew from the Genesis Invitational last week, saying it was too soon to play after losing his mom, even though he’s the tournament host and his foundation is the beneficiary.

On Tuesday, he returned to competitive golf for the first time since she died.

“I think that she really enjoyed watching me play,” Tiger said after Jupiter dropped its match to New York Golf Club, 10-3. “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.”

The night appeared to be a release for Tiger, who spent much of the match laughing at the absurdity of how bad things went for him and his team.

Jupiter was run out of the SoFi Center from the first hole. New York, with Cameron Young, Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick, won eight of the first nine holes to take an 8-0 lead.

‘One of most embarrassing things,’ to happen to Tiger

It was comedy of errors for Jupiter that became a viral moment on the 13th hole when Tiger hit a wedge when he had 199 yards to the hole.

“That was one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen,” Tiger said, laughing, after the match. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

As for the shot. He nailed it .. if it really was 99 yards.

“I hit it 100 yards,” he said.

Kim and Kisner were confused when they saw Tiger swing.

“What are you doing?” Kim said. “It’s 199,” added Kisner.

“You said 99,” Tiger said. “You said 99.”

That moment came 10 holes after Tiger, Kim and Kisner spent several minutes searching for a ball mark, which they later learned was in Kisner’s pocket the whole time.

As for the golf, it wasn’t much better. Tiger started by missing a 5-foot putt for par and a tie.

And it got worse from there.

On the second hole, he left the ball in the bunker, a shot that cost Jupiter two points after New York threw the Hammer.

On No. 4, his drive drifted left, way left, into whatever grass is displayed on the virtual screen.

So on and so forth.

Tiger had one highlight, dropping an 8-foot putt to defeat Young in singles.

But that was not what Jupiter was thinking about when the three players arrived in the media center following the match.

“Can you talk about what you learned from today’s match,” they were asked.

All three players burst out in laughter.

Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tiger Woods returns to golf for first time since mother’s death