Tiger Woods to play next year at Riviera tournament if he’s healthy

Tiger Woods will make his competitive return to the Riviera Country Club next year if he is healthy enough to play.

The tour announced on Tuesday that the Tiger Woods Foundation will become the new host organization for the tournament whose new title sponsor is Hyundai after nine years of being the Northern Trust Open.

Woods said in a prepared statement: “I’m committed to playing in my foundation’s events, and it will be exciting to return to Riviera.”

Woods, 40, has conspicuously avoided Riviera in Pacific Palisades for much of his career, and going winless there is one of the few glaring disappointments for the golfer who has notched 79 career victories, including 14 majors.

Though he made his first-ever appearance in a PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old amateur in the then-Nissan Los Angeles Open, Woods has played in the tournament only nine times as a pro.

After back-to-back runner-up finishes in 1998 and ’99, Woods posted only two other top-10s. He last played at Riviera in 2006 and had to withdraw because of the flu.

Riviera has often been referred to as Woods’ home course because he grew up 40 miles to the south in Cypress. However, it was at Torrey Pines in San Diego where he excelled, winning seven editions of the Farmers Insurance Open and the 2008 U.S. Open.

Woods, 40, has been away from competitive golf since September because of back problems and has no target date for a return.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for my foundation,” Woods said in a statement. “This is the first PGA Tour event I ever played, and it means a lot to contribute to a community that has supported me and my foundation for more than 20 years.”