Woods, who jointly held the record with Fred Couples and Gary Player on 23, began the day having to play five holes to complete the first round before moving quickly into the second round.
Earlier this year, he had played just 25 holes in a tournament when he withdrew from the second round of the Genesis Invitational in February due to illness. So walking 23 holes in one day was probably a challenge.
However, despite his physical efforts, the 48-year-old American showed all his acumen to navigate a roller coaster front nine where he made three birdies and three bogeys.
With the wind strong enough to blow sand from the bunkers on the back nine, he made a series of fine par putts and a birdie on the 15th, after sinking a shot at the 14th, to stay well above the cut line .
“I’m tired. And I’m really hungry, I could use some food and some caffeine,” the 15-time major champion said when asked how he was feeling.
As always, Woods attracted thousands of fans and they were also treated to a sparkling start from Homa who birdied the second and fourth to join DeChambeau at the top of the leaderboard at seven under.
He briefly led the tournament after DeChambeau made bogey at the fourth and, despite one shot on the 11th, managed to get home to set the target.
