I am just so thankful to be back out here playing again, says upbeat Tiger
LONDON: Tiger Woods’ return to competition after an absence of nearly 16 months was a mixed bag, though the former world No 1 said he had a great week simply competing at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
The roller-coaster nature of his form over the four days at the Albany course on the island of New Providence was sharply illustrated by the fact that he led the elite field with birdies (24) and double-bogeys (six).
While Woods showed flashes of the brilliant golf he produced while accumulating 14 major titles, he also delivered the inept, often finding sandy waste areas off the tee or with approach shots, and occasionally bladed bunker shots over greens.
He sank a few long-range putts, but too often was unsteady from inside six feet as he tried to shake off the rust after a lengthy stint on the sidelines due to back-related issues.
“I am just so thankful to be back out here playing again,” Woods told reporters.
“I made some birdies this week, and I felt like I did really well in that regard, but I also made some really silly mistakes. I played the par-5s, quite frankly, awful.”
In the twilight of his career at age 40, Woods knows that time is not on his side but he intends to play as much tournament golf as he can next year, as he strives to work his way back up the world rankings from a mind-boggling 898th.
“The good thing is that because I have been away for so long, everything I do here I keep accruing (ranking) points,” said Woods. “If I play halfway decent, I will keep climbing quickly.”
Former PGA Tour winner Brandel Chamblee, who now works as a Golf Channel analyst, was impressed by Woods’ wedge game from outside 70 yards in the Bahamas but felt his golf swing needed fixing.
“In round number one, you saw him get to the 18th tee, his misses all day had been to the left,” Chamblee said. “So you are going to do everything you can to make sure that the toe doesn’t beat the heel to the golf ball. Tiger Woods would have known that and he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t stop it.
“And yet here he is playing a more conservative route later on in the week off of the 18th tee, not going with the driver, and still not able to find the fairway. He’d miss left, he would miss right.”
Chamblee was also unimpressed by Woods’ chipping, the low point being a chunked chip at the par-5 6th on Sunday which led to a double-bogey.
“Any tour player that tries to hit a wedge off a green is going to take a long swing and make sure that they use the bounce and fully release,” said Chamblee. “The fact that he missed the bounce there is very, very troubling.”
Meanwhile, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, the hottest player in world golf over the past two months, survived a shaky back nine to clinch his fourth win in five starts with a two-stroke victory at the Hero World Challenge.
Matsuyama ended a dominant week with his worst round, a one-over 73.
The 24-year-old Japanese, seven strokes ahead overnight, birdied two of the first nine holes, then shrugged off a double at the 10th and a bogey at the 14th as he posted an 18-under total in blustery conditions.
“I have played very, very well until today,” world number six Matsuyama, speaking through an interpreter, told Golf Channel about his sizzling run that included a maiden World Golf Championships title in Shanghai in October. “Today I struggled a bit.” Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden eagled the par-5 9th on the way to a 68 and second place, three ahead of Americans Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar.
Woods closed with a 76 for 15th place at four-under.
“I think it was a great week, to be back playing again and competing, playing against the best players in the world,” said Woods. “Unfortunately I made a lot of mistakes this week, made a lot of birdies but a lot of mistakes.
“I made some poor decisions, missed the ball in the wrong spots and quite frankly it feels a little weird not to play in a cart.
“So it’s a little different and I am getting used to that, getting my legs back and getting my body back, focusing for a long period of time. And these are all things that I have missed for about a year and a half.”
After making strong starts in each of the first three rounds, Woods struggled early on Sunday with a bogey at the 5th and a double-bogey at the next.
Though he thrilled fans with a run of three birdies from the 7th, he limped over the next three holes, going bogey, double-bogey, bogey to tumble back down.
“I was playing aggressive, this golf course allows one to be aggressive, but also I made some bad mistakes,” said Woods.
“Three doubles today just adds up to a pretty high number. But on the flip side, I was able to be aggressive.” – Reuters