Tiger Trumps Dustin off tee
Pain-free at last and showing up world No1... THIS is the comeback
TIGER WOODS is swinging the club so freely ahead of his latest comeback in the Bahamas this week that he regularly outdrove world No1 Dustin Johnson during a friendly fourball in Florida on Friday.
This startling, eye-witness nugget comes courtesy of former US Ryder Cup player Brad Faxon, who teamed up with the fourth member of the group — US President Donald Trump, no less — for a match staged at Trump’s course in the wealthy enclave of Jupiter, where Tiger and DJ both have homes.
‘They played from the back tees at 7,600 yards while we played from the blue tees at about 6,500 yards,’ said Faxon, a member of Trump’s club.
‘Tiger looked great to me. He was happy and, more than anything, he’s finally pain-free. The issues he’s had with the back for his last couple of comebacks seem to be gone. His swing looked effortless, he looked free and he had some power.
‘I was impressed with how far he hit the ball. On the 10 holes they hit driver, Tiger hit it past Dustin half the time. I think, more than anything, he looked at ease. He was not concerned about swinging hard and going at it with his driver. The ball flight, the sound off the club, all of it was right there.’
As Faxon acknowledged, there’s a world of difference between looking good in practice and what will happen when Tiger makes his scheduled return to tournament play next year, when he will have turned 42. But it all augurs well for his own exhibition event this week, the Hero World Challenge, featuring Johnson and 16 other members of the elite, including Europe’s new No1, Tommy Fleetwood.
Woods hasn’t been seen in competition since the sad sight of him walking like an old man during the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic in February. Since then he’s had fusion surgery on his troublesome back — his fourth operation in as many years — and was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons in May.
Woods was found asleep at the wheel of his Mercedes by the side of a highway, with the engine still running, drugged up to the eyeballs on a cocktail of painkillers.
Now all the sightings are positive, with Faxon’s thoughts echoing those of Rickie Fowler’s and others among the Jupiter set who have seen him play. As for Trump, whose listed handicap is two, Faxon said: ‘The President was gracious and entertaining. He told some stories and things he loves about the job and some he doesn’t. I think he was excited to be in that group and we had a lot of fun.’
Meanwhile, Woods was up early yesterday at Albany, the site of this week’s Hero World Challenge, getting in some final work before his first competitive start since February.
Woods raced around the layout in two hours, 10 minutes riding in a golf cart and looking relaxed and fit following fusion surgery on his back in April.
‘I haven’t really competed in two years, really. I haven’t really done much. I’m looking forward to competing again and finding the rhythm and the feel of playing tournament golf and just hitting shots,’ Woods told Golf.com, as he was joined by caddie Joe LaCava yesterday.
‘I haven’t really had a scorecard in my hand in a while and that’s going to be different.’
Elsewhere, at the Emirates Australian Open, it wasn’t much fun for Tiger’s big pal Jason Day, who looked all set for his first tournament win for 18 months until a shocking collapse on the final day let in 22-year-old home rookie Cameron Davis, who can expect to move up around 1,250 places today from his present world ranking of 1,494.