Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR
Woods greeted Hoffman at the Genesis Invitational to congratulate him after he earned a spot in this week’s Signature Event.
Last week at the WM Phoenix Open, Charley Hoffman had to play his way into this week’s Genesis Invitational because Tiger Woods denied giving him a sponsor exemption. He came up short in the playoff to Nick Taylor, but the second place finish got him into the field.
When Hoffman got on site at Riviera Country Club this week, the Big Cat was the first to greet him.
“The first person I saw in the locker room was Tiger, and he goes, ‘Good job, old man.’ He’s older than me, but it’s nice to get that,” Hoffman said ahead of the tournament.
Charley Hoffman, who asked Tiger Woods for a sponsor’s exemption into the Genesis Invitational and was denied, played his way in with a runner-up at WMPO.
Woods was the first person to greet him in the Riviera locker room earlier this week. Hoffman says Tiger looked at him and… pic.twitter.com/yuOOQ2PnJf
— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) February 14, 2024
Hoffman is making his 17th start this week at Riviera, tied for the most starts at this event in the FedEx Cup with Matt Kuchar.
The 47-year-old veteran played his tail off last week in Scottsdale, going 67-68-64-64. The performance seemed to come out of nowhere as he had struggled to begin his 2024 season.
Hoffman’s best finish of the year was a T42 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He missed the cut at the American Express and finished T56 at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Hoffman actually had plans to go skiing with his family this week but had to send his wife and kids without him.
It’s a good thing he did, too.
He has carried his momentum into Tiger’s event with a fiery start. The 4-time PGA Tour winner is atop the leaderboard at 4-under through 11 holes in Round 1 Thursday. There is a lot of golf left, but it’s an excellent start for the man who wasn’t even in the field four days ago.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
