Tiger finishes with a purr
Tiger Woods has finished his first golf tournament in just over 15 months with a purr, rather than a roar.
Woods made his comeback at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, concluding yesterday with a four-over 76 in the fourth round.
The fatigue of playing four consecutive rounds at the top level showed in his final outing of the tournament with him making three double bogeys en route to the highest round score of the tournament.
It was an up-and-down tournament for Woods who led the field in birdies with 24, but also in double bogeys with six. His overall score placed him 15th out of 17 players.
Rarely has a December golf event attracted this much curiosity. Woods, the dominant player of his generation, had gone 466 days since his previous tournament because of two back surgeries. The recovery at times made it difficult for him to walk and led him to wonder if he would ever play.
Woods showed plenty of length off the tee. His swing looked comfortable . And after five straight days walking, including the proam, he showed no signs of pain.
‘‘It’s really good to be back playing again, competing,’' Woods said.
‘‘Unfortunately, I made a lot of mistakes. I made a lot of birdies, but I made a lot of mistakes.’' Rust or fatigue? ‘‘It’s both,’' he said with a laugh. ‘‘I made some poor decisions. I hit the ball in some wrong spots. Quite frankly, it feels kind of weird not to be in a cart. Getting my legs back, focusing for a long period of time, these are the things I missed for a year-and-a-half.’'
Woods at least starts his climb from No 898 in the world, the product of not playing since August 23, 2015.
His caddie, Joe LaCava, offered the best perspective.
‘‘I wasn’t going to compare him to the rest of the field. They’ve been playing all year and they’ve been playing great,’' LaCava said.
‘‘Honestly, my goal was to get him through five rounds on his feet. That was big.’'