Tiger Woods made his PGA Tour debut at Riviera as a 16-year-old amateur back in 1992.

It is one of golf’s most intriguing facts that neither Jack Nicklaus nor Tiger Woods won at Riviera during their incredible careers. Obviously, Woods hosts the event now known as the Genesis Invitational.

It certainly represents a significant week in Woods’ career, with the tournament – then known as the Los Angeles Open – providing the stage for his PGA Tour bow 34 years ago.

Woods was unable to make the cut that week after posting rounds of 72 and 75. He fell six shots short of making it to the weekend in the Pacific Palisades.

How Tiger Woods behaved on his PGA Tour debut at Riviera in 1992

The 15-time major champion played alongside Bob Friend and Dicky Thompson over those two days.

Friend was a rookie on tour that year. His best ever finish on the PGA Tour came six years later at the Canadian Open, with Billy Andrade defeating him in a playoff.

Speaking to Golf Digest in 2017, Friend explained what he thought of Woods that week in 1992.

“Tiger was quiet but extraordinarily polite. I met his dad, and his mom went down every fairway. He was long but not super long, but he didn’t hit any clunkers. Even his average shots had real good contact, which is something tour players notice about each other,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone thought we would eventually see what we eventually saw, other than maybe his dad and himself.

“I remember once asking Jack Nicklaus about how he felt, at 22 years old, before his playoff with Arnold in 1962 at Oakmont. And Jack said, ‘I knew I was the best driver in the world and the best iron player in the world and the best putter in the world. I thought I was going to do okay.’ The great champions think differently and see themselves differently. And deep down, I bet Tiger did, too.”

The ‘insane’ lengths the media went to while Tiger Woods was playing

Despite the PGA Tour seeing Woods in action for the first time, there was certainly a sense of just how special the teenager could be.

As Golf Channel reported in 2017, there was an extraordinary amount of media following Woods around during his opening round.

In fact, Friend revealed that one photographer ignored that he was getting ready to putt on one green just to ensure that he could get a good shot of the boy wonder.

“On the seventh hole, I had a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe and Tiger was waiting, leaning on his putter across the green,” he said. “I got down behind the ball, on a little crown, and a photographer crossed in front of me when I was reading the putt – literally walked between me and the ball and started taking pictures of Tiger from across the green.

“I said to him, ‘Are you kidding me?!’ My caddie grabbed him by the shoulders and told him to go over there. But it was like that for two days. It was insane.”

It would be a few more years before Woods said, ‘Hello world’, and turned professional. However, it is clearly fair to say that the hype proved to be more than justified – even if he is still awaiting that first victory at Riviera.