Woods’ comeback hits a rough patch

Tiger Woods return to competitive golf took a tumble yesterday.

Woods, who struggled in the windy Bahamas conditions at Albany Golf Club, failed to make a birdie until the 14th hole and fell out of contention during the third round.

He shot 3-over 75 after starting with scores of 69 and 68. Woods is 10 strokes behind leader Charley Hoffman, who has a five-shot buffer over Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth.

A troublesome start dominated by bogeys proved costly for Woods. After two strong rounds that had many believing Tiger was back, the former world No.yj1 stumbled, recording four of his five bogeys in the first seven holes to shoot 40 on the front nine.

He fought back with birdies on holes 14 and 17 to finish with a three-over par 75.

That left Woods tied for 10th at four-under in his first event in nearly 10 months after spinal fusion surgery.

‘‘It’s ridiculous it took me 14 holes to make a birdie,’’ Woods said.

‘‘At that time, I’d already played four par 5s and nothing happened. Just one of those days.

‘‘Anything I did right ended up in a bad spot, and then everything I did wrong, it was really bad.’’

Hoffman sent his tee shot far right into the bushes on a sand dune right of the 10th fairway. He took a penalty drop onto a sandy path and wound up with a double bogey that brought a half-dozen players back into the mix.

But not for long.

He closed with three birdies over his last five holes, including the 18th hole for the second straight day. That put him at 14 under.

‘‘I got lucky on some tee balls that didn’t find the bushes and stayed in the sandy areas and I was able to sort of scrap it around,’’ Hoffman said.

‘‘I’m going to have to handle my nerves a little better than I did today’’

Only in the closing five holes where Woods - ranked 1199 - twice had birdies and narrowly missed a third at the last, did the 41-year-old show he could again be a factor.

England’s Justin Rose (71) and Jordan Spieth (72) were tied for second at nine under.

One stroke further back is Italy’s Francesco Molinari (71).