SAN DIEGO — Is there anyone who has served as more of a witness to the legendary career of golfer Tiger Woods than Jim Nantz? The broadcaster has covered 57 of Woods’ PGA Tour-record 82 wins and nine of his 15 major championships.

Nantz has owned a singular seat to singular history.

There may be no more poignant chapter for perhaps the greatest golfer of all time than this week at Torrey Pines Golf Course for the relocated Genesis Invitational, the tournament Woods hosts.

Torrey Pines is the place where he won eight times on Tour and six more times as an amateur. The course perched along an ocean cliffside is a one-man highlight reel for Woods, who roared through the 2008 U.S. Open there while playing on a broken leg.

This also is the first tournament for Woods without his mother Kultida, who passed away on Tuesday. Woods will turn 50 in December. Life’s milestones are stacked one atop another.

Wildfires in Los Angeles caused the Genesis, his tournament, to shift from Riviera Country Club and reunite Woods with so much of his winning along the way.

“Torrey Pines, there’s so much personal history with him,” Nantz said by phone while covering the Waste Management Phoenix Open for CBS in Scottsdale, Ariz. “All the turbulence and tragedy behind (the venue change), it’s a really nice piece of positive news. I really didn’t expect it. I’m thrilled he’s going to do it.

“There’s so much in his universe with the passing of his mother Kultida and returning to Torrey Pines with so much of his history there. It will be a very special march through time for him.”

The star-choked field for the Genesis boasts 46 of the top 50 players in the world, including No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 3 Rory McIlroy, No. 4 Collin Morikawa and No. 5 Hideki Matsuyama.

Only one name is capable of casting a shadow that eclipses them all: Tiger.

Woods does not move the needle. He loads it on a rocket ship and relocates it to a different planet. He’s the power of the possible, winning the 2019 Masters 11 years after his next-to-last major.

The previous one: That unforgettable Open at Torrey, outlasting Rocco Mediate in a playoff that stretched 19 holes.

“Playing on one leg at the U.S. Open was a high-water mark in a tremendous career,” Nantz said. “Everyone will want to see what Tiger looks like. We just don’t get to see him very often. It’s such a fitting place for him to come back.”

Woods is a living, breathing, sometimes-swinging legend among those you can count on one hand. He’s Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky all rolled into one.

He’s an I-saw-him-play guy, no matter the spot on his career timeline. He’s a one-word reference: Messi, Magic, Djokovic. He’s a brilliant comet that has left generations slack-jawed.

Woods makes you question Father Time. He makes you wonder about the perceived limits of medicine.

It seems ridiculous to think Woods can contend in his season debut, considering the dizzying depth of talent swarming Torrey and the fact he made it to the weekend just once during five events in 2024.

Woods, however, is the reason millions buy Powerball tickets, even though they know the odds of winning are minuscule.

Though it has been an 800-yard par-5 ago, he has proven people wrong again and again.

That makes watching Woods — even now, even at his age, even against superstars in their prime — a fascinating mystery in waiting.

In less than two hours after it was announced Woods would play at Torrey Pines, officials said more than 20 new media credential requests flooded in.

“Trust me, he’s not going there to have a sentimental journey,” Nantz said. “He doesn’t play if he doesn’t think he has a chance to compete and win.”

Even so, being there will be game-changing enough.

As the Super Bowl wraps up, it will leave San Diego alone in the sports spotlight as Woods steps onto the course starting Thursday.

A Tiger-sized spotlight.

The club-swinging Woods also will amplify attention on the wildfires that forced the tournament to move. He will spike awareness and increase the support for thousands who lost so much amid the terrifying flames.

He’s a face — and next week, the face — of one of the most heartbreaking natural disasters in American history. His presence means something. His participation and the ripples that follow mean infinitely more.

These days, his name overshadows his game.

“It’s been an absolute thrill to sit in the tower for so many of those watershed moments,” Nantz said. “This is another one, given all that’s involved in this. It’s one of those times where we ought to look at it as a gift.”

The galleries will swell for today. They’ll also swell for all those countless, historic, unforgettable yesterdays.

And Nantz will be there … again.

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