PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Tiger Woods has a score to settle.
No, not with Sam Snead, with whom he’s tied for the most wins in PGA Tour history with 82.
Not with Jack Nicklaus, whose all-time record of 18 major championships he trails by three.
Not with Phil Mickelson, whose popularity has overtaken the golf world despite the fact his world ranking has fallen the past couple of years while Woods’ has risen.
No. Woods has a score to settle with Riviera Country Club, which has become more of a nemesis for him in his career than for any of the top players in the world who’ve made their respective runs at his dominance over the years.
Riviera is the place where Woods played in his first PGA Tour event, in 1992 at age 16, and the place where his father, Earl, used to bring him to watch the old L.A. Open when he was a kid growing up just 40 miles down “The 405’’ where they lived in Cypress, Calif.
There isn’t a more fitting and full-circle place for Woods to record his 83rd PGA Tour victory to break the all-time record than at Riviera this week in the Genesis Invitational, because Riviera is one of the few puzzles Woods has been unable to solve in his brilliant career.
Sure, a win three weeks ago at Torrey Pines, where Woods has won eight times as a professional, would have been an apropos place for the 83rd considering his ridiculously successful history there.
Winning No. 83 to surpass Snead at the Masters next month would probably be the sexiest spot to do it — considering it would be Woods’ sixth green jacket, which would tie Nicklaus for the most of all time.
But Riviera would be the most perfectly symbolic place for No. 83 to take place. Add to that the tournament being hosted by Woods’ foundation, and it become almost too good a dream to be true.
Woods is 0-for-13 in this tournament, 12 of which have been played at Riviera. The first two of those tries, however, came when Woods was an amateur — 1992 and 1993. This is the tournament Woods has played the most times in his career without a win.
Next on that list is the Northern Trust — which has been played at Ridgewood Country Club, Plainfield Country Club, Liberty National, Bethpage Black and Glen Oaks in its most recent years since moving from Westchester Country Club. Woods is 0-for-10 at the Northern Trust. The next on that fail list for him is the Honda Classic, at which he’s 0-for-5.
Woods, who has four top 10s at Riviera and two runner-up finishes (one of which came at Valencia Country Club), tied for 15th last year. His lack of success on what is considered a home course of sorts is not at all lost on him.
“I’ve played in a number of events over the years [at Riviera], and for me not to win an event that has meant so much to me in my hometown — I’ve done well at Torrey Pines, I’ve done well at Sherwood — I just haven’t done well here,’’ Woods said Tuesday. “Hopefully, I can put it together this week and we’ll have a great conversation on Sunday.’’
Woods’ lack of success at Riviera is curious in that it’s an old-school ball-strikers golf course, and there have been few. if any, players in the history of the game who are better ball-strikers than Woods, particularly with his iron play, which is crucial with a number of small greens at Riv.
“I have historically never really putted well here,’’ Woods said. “I’ve played here so many rounds. It suits a natural cutter of the golf ball, so I figured that’s what I have done pretty much my entire career. But when it comes right down to it, you’ve got to hit the ball well here because the greens are so small and they’re so slopey. But for some reason, everything kind of breaks toward [hole No.] 6, and I still haven’t quite figured that out.
“On [Monday] when I was out there with Bubba [Watson], he was giving me pretty good grief. He’s won here, what, three times? And I haven’t.’’
Not yet.
