Tiger Woods finished level par at the Hero World Challenge in his first tournament since he got ankle surgery.
Tiger Woods felt he had made significant progress after completing 72 holes in his latest comeback from injury in the Hero World Challenge. Competing for the first time since undergoing ankle surgery after withdrawing from the Masters in April, Woods carded a closing 72 in the Bahamas to finish level par for the week and 18th in the 20-man field.
The 47-year-old recovered from a double bogey on the third with three birdies in the next four holes and also birdied the 14th and 15th after dropping shots on the eighth and 11th.
I think I’ve come a long way. From being a little bit rusty to playing four days and knocked off a lot of rust which was great, and just the physicality of actually playing and competing again. I haven’t done this in a while – Woods told NBC.
“It was nice to get out here with the guys, have some fun and compete. I wish I would have played a little cleaner but there’s always next time,” he added.
Tiger Woods walked off the 18th green at Albany Golf Club on Sunday, completing a 72-hole tournament for the first time. It was an achievement that was always going to mean more than his swing, his score and his standing in the Hero World Challenge. And to think that a good bit of the chatter before the tournament centered around whether he would even start, let alone finish.
Woods did far more than that. In a week’s time, he changed the narrative from negative to positive; from concerns about whether he was risking embarrassment to how long it might be before he will win again. The fact that some might be getting ahead of themselves when it comes to adding more tournament trophies is simply a testament to how good Woods looked this week, which was a pleasant surprise after all of the doom and gloom of the past year.
Among the more impressive aspects of his comeback was the intensity Woods brought to the tournament. There is an understandable sense that Woods has to take things slowly, carefully. That his swing has undergone subtle changes to protect his surgically repaired back. That there would be growing pains, most notably with power and distance.
Asked about his pre-tournament prediction that he could be able to play one tournament a month in 2024, Woods added: “If you ask me right now, I’m a little bit sore.
“But once a month seems reasonable. It gives me a couple of weeks to recover, a week to tune up. Maybe I can get into a rhythm. That’s what the plan was going into next year and I don’t see why that would change,” he answered.
In a separate interview with a group of reporters, Woods added: “Every day I got faster into the round. The first day took me a while to get a handle on it, second day was faster, today was right away. And that’s eventually, when I play on a regular basis, that’s normally how it is.”
“I think the best part of the week is the way I drove it. I drove it on pretty much a string all week. Granted, these fairways are big. I felt like I had my ball speed up, which was nice, and I was hitting the middle of the face the entire week, which is nice.
“So it’s not like I have to go and try and find something the next few weeks or something going into next year; what I’ve been working on is right there and maybe just need to tighten up a little bit.”
“His swing is really great. He has an innate ability to do things that only a couple of guys in the world can do. I thought the hardest thing to do coming off a long layoff is to come back and shoot a low number. said Brandt Snedeker.
Much has been made of Woods’ chipping problems from early in 2015, but he maintains that is the least of his worries at this point. There were no signs of chipping yips at Albany, just possibly a lack of precision that is understandable.
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