Tiger Woods' first round of the 2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs at The Northern Trust is not off to a good start, but at least there aren't very many people there to see it. Because of weather in New Jersey, Liberty National Golf Club did not open to the public until 10 a.m. Woods was nearly complete with his first nine holes by the time galleries were let in.
The site of the Northern Trust tournament was hit by a heavy storm Wednesday afternoon, and grandstands, hospitality venues, signage and tents were damaged. Although the grounds crew was working overnight to get the golf course playable, there was enough damage to spectator areas that PGA Tour officials decided Wednesday night to keep spectators from entering until 10 a.m. ET Thursday.
It's a strange thing to see Woods play golf without anyone around given how many people are normally watching every single thing he does.
bizarrely empty fan-free golf course for tiger on the 10th tee this morning pic.twitter.com/1saWK0nhhq
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) August 8, 2019
This is not the first time this has happened this year. We actually witnessed this at Riviera earlier this season when Tiger finished Round 3 of the Genesis Open early on Sunday with nobody in attendance.
It looked like a video game.
It's so strange to see Tiger on the course on a Sunday with nobody really watching him. It honestly kinda looks photoshopped. pic.twitter.com/afBrp83NfR
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) February 17, 2019
Woods currently has one of the worst rounds going on the course with two bogeys and a double bogey through his first six holes. This is not entirely unexpected. Woods has been not great since winning the Masters and didn't sound like he got a great week of work at Liberty National.
Regardless, it has to be nice for him to not have to go through the experience in front of thousands of people like will be in attendance later this afternoon. Big Cat will be attempting to stay inside the top 30 of the FedEx Cup standings (he's currently 28th) to get to the Tour Championship and defend his 2018 title win.