Tiger Woods Thursday live blog Woods birdies the last to finish with first-round 70

In case you were wondering if people are excited for Tiger Woods’ opening round of 2019, a video of he and Joe LaCava yucking it up and another video of Woods being denied a slice of pizza have taken the internet by storm. The pizza video has gotten so out of hand that the PGA Tour asked the reporter who captured it to take it down:

So yeah, you could say Tiger fans are ready to roll. Just imagine what will happen when he makes his first birdie on Thursday.

Speaking of birdies, Woods has made a few over the years at Torrey Pines, where he’ll be making his 2019 debut in the Farmers Insurance Open. Woods has won here eight times in his career, seven of those coming in this event, and once in the U.S. Open, his most recent major championship victory. His most recent victory at Torrey, however, came in 2013, one of his five wins that season.

The last we saw of Woods, he didn’t look like his late-summer self at the Hero World Challenge, finishing in second-to-last as he struggled to avoid making bogeys throughout the week. Prior to that, Woods also played poorly in “The Match” against Phil Mickelson, though he did make it interesting down the stretch with some late-round heroics. We’ll see if some much-needed rest over the holidays has Woods back in good form when he tees off on the South Course on Thursday at 10:40 a.m. local time, 1:40 p.m. ET. The 14-time major champion is paired with Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele, who will each be playing with Woods in a competitive round for the first time in their careers.

Follow all the action from Woods’ 2019 debut right here in our live blog.

6:50 p.m.: It took a few hops, but Woods’ birdie effort eventually found the bottom of the cup for a much-needed closing birdie. That gave him a two-under 70, keeping him in the mix heading into tomorrow when he faces the easier North Course.

He’ll likely need something in the 66-68 range to keep pace with Rahm, Justin Rose and the other big names on top of the leader board, including Jordan Spieth, who may have finally righted the ship on Thursday with a seven-under 65. He tees off Friday on the North at 12:30 p.m. ET. Check back tomorrow right here at golfdigest.com for our Friday live blog.

6:42 p.m.: After a layup to 119 yards, Woods hits a wedge to the back left part of the green and spins it back towards the pin. He’ll have just outside of 10 feet left to post a two-under 70.
6:34 p.m.: Another fade off the tee for Woods goes too far right, settling in the rough and making the 18th a three-shot hole. That’s never stopped him from making birdie here before, as we know.
6:30 p.m.: Woods’ approach was all over the flag but just a hair long, leaving him a lightning quick, downhill 19-footer for birdie. He hit a good putt, but played a bit too much break and tapped in for par. Woods heads to the par-5 18th at one under.
6:19 p.m.: Woods hits his best tee shot in a couple holes at the 17th, ripping a 3-wood right down the center of the fairway. Could be the first time since the 13th he has a legitimate look at birdie if he’s able to knock it close.
6:15 p.m.: Tiger makes his third bogey of the day at the par-3 16th, dropping him nine shots off of Rahm’s lead.
6:09 p.m.: No hole-in-one scare this year for Woods as his tee shot finds the right bunker. From there he splashes one out that rolls about eight or nine feet past the hole. Big par putt coming up.
5:57 p.m.: Tiger nearly holes the chip for birdie, lipping out and tapping in for par. That would have been a nice little steal there. Great par save though. He’ll head to the par-3 16th, where he nearly made an ace a year ago in the first round.
5:54 p.m.: Woods misses the fairway again off the tee, his ball coming to rest in the right rough and behind a tree. He tried to chase one up the 15th green but it never got there, and now he’ll have a testy up and down to stay at two under.
5:41 p.m.: Strong two-putt par from deep for Tiger. We’ll see if he can finish this thing off and maybe grab one more birdie on the way in to stay within shouting distance of Jon Rahm, who posted a 10-under 62 on the North Course.
5:35 p.m.: Tiger’s drive finds the right rough at the 14th, but he was able to muscle it on to the green, where he’ll have over 60 feet left for birdie.
5:24 p.m.: As he has so often in his career, Tiger rolls in a downhill, right to left birdie putt at the 13th, producing a huge roar from the crowd. He’s now three under on the par 5s for the day, an area he struggled in mightily a year ago. Woods is back at two under.

5:22 p.m.: Woods laid up to about 100 yards, then hit a wedge over the flag but too far. His ball landed in the first cut on the back of the green and spun back a bit, but he has a long birdie putt coming up.
5:09 p.m.: If you want to hit 13 in two, it’s critical to find the fairway off the tee. Woods does just that at the par 5, a hole he’s has some success at over the years. Needs a birdie here.
5:00 p.m.: Woods got a little ambitious with a 5-wood from the rough, and it paid off as his ball rolled up about 50 yards short of the green in the fairway. From there he clipped a wedge to about six feet, but missed the putt left of the hole. Back to one under.
4:48 p.m.: Oh boy. Woods makes his worst swing of the day at the 12th, hooking one well left of the fairway. After begging his ball not to hit the cart path, it listened, instead nestling in a thick lie in the rough that he’ll probably just have to chunk out and hope for the best. Would be a huge momentum killer to make a bogey here, especially with the par-5 13th coming up where he could really get it rolling.
4:42 p.m.: Tiger cleans up his birdie, but not before playing partner Tony Finau one-upped him with one of the most ridiculous, high-degree-of-difficulty wedge shots you’ll see all week. Finau missed the green well left, leaving him with an impossible, downhill angle to the green that he would have done well to just get on the dance floor. Instead, he hit one high and landed it in the rough just short of the green and it rolled out to tap-in range. Impressive shot from Finau, who sits at three under through 11. Xander Schauffele is at two under, so these two clearly aren’t succumbing to any added Tiger pressure in their first round with the 14-time major winner.

4:32 p.m.: Woods takes direct aim at the flag at the par-3 11th, sticking it to kick-in range to get to two under. Big-time shot.