TIGER HAPPY TO BE ON THE PROWL AGAIN
Woods three off lead in his comeback
Five birdies, two duffed chips, two fist pumps, one club slammed into the turf in anger and one f-bomb. Yes, Tiger Woods’ comeback round yesterday covered a full range of shots and emotions, with the best news of all being he appeared to be moving as freely walking off the 18th as he was at the start.
in the end, the first round he has played with a scorecard in his hand for 301 long, eventful days added up to a highly encouraging 69 in the Hero World Challenge.
in this exhibition event in the Bahamas featuring 17 players ranked in the world’s top 50 — plus Woods — the 1,199th rated golfer finished just three shots behind the leader, england’s Tommy Fleetwood.
indeed, Tiger ended up on the same mark as Justin Thomas, his playing partner and the best golfer in the world this year. No wonder they say class is permanent.
‘i thought it was great after the difficulties i’ve been through,’ said Woods. ‘i didn’t know what i could do after so long out but i really hit it well for the most part.’
After all he’s been through, the 41-year-old must have chuckled to himself when his opening drive destined for a waste bunker took a fortunate hop to finish on the fairway.
So began a sumptuous display of shotmaking marred only by those two chunked chip shots plus one wild drive. What a contrast this all was to the forlorn, limping figure when last seen at the Dubai Desert Classic last February.
Woods picked up his first shot with a two-putt birdie at the third before an authentic Tiger fist pump at the fourth, where he holed from 20 feet for par. At the eighth he holed from 30 feet for birdie and looked certain to pick up another shot at the par-five ninth, where he was just 30 feet from the hole following two mighty blows. But a poor chip was followed by three more shots and an audible obscenity.
He bounced back with the only birdie seen all day at the 10th and moved to four under after 14. He was just a shot off the lead but at the 15th his only errant drive meant another bogey on a par five.
Fleetwood is playing his sixth consecutive event, in places as far flung as China, Turkey, South Africa, the Middle east, Hong Kong and now the Bahamas. Clearly, you don’t feel tired when you’re riding the crest of a wave, as europe’s new No 1 stitched together his flawless six under round.
He became a father two months ago and will get married on Tuesday. ‘Yes, life is pretty good right now,’ he said, smiling.