Woods a host with the most strokes

TIGER Woods risks coming last in his own tournament, trailing the field going into the final round of the star-studded Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

Woods (pictured above) needed some late birdies to salvage an even-par 72 yesterday but trails joint leaders Henrik Stenson, John Rahm and Tony Finau by 11 shots in the 18-man field.

“It’s definitely not alarming, for sure,” said tournament host Woods in his first 72-hole event since winning the Tour Championship.

“I just haven’t played clean.”

Finau fired a 67 to get to 13under 203, catching Stenson and Rahm who both had 69s.

“When I’m playing well, I feel like I can score on any golf course, especially a course that has five par-5s,” the longhitting Finau said.

Australian No.1 Jason Day wasn’t much better off than Woods after a 70 left him tied for second-last at three under the card.

Stenson and Finau are going for their first victory of the year, even though this holiday event is not attached to any tour and is considered unofficial except for the world ranking points, which are worth more than four of the domestic events in autumn on the PGA Tour.

Finau did everything right except win this year, including his first Ryder Cup appearance. Stenson has won at least once around the world in five of the past six years.

“Winning is always nice,” said Stenson, a runner-up to Hideki Maruyama two years ago in the Bahamas.

“It never gets old, no matter how big or small the tournament. You can’t say that this is a small tournament, given the field. Who you’re playing against is obviously going to give you a nice boost if you managed to win it.”

Gary Woodland, who was over par towards the end of his opening round, had a 67 and suddenly is only two shots behind. Rickie Fowler also had a 67, and suddenly the defending champion is back in the mix three shots behind.