Great start then Tiger slips back

TIGER Woods had mixed fortunes as he began his long-awaited comeback at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

The 14-time Major winner got off to a superb start with four birdies in the opening eight holes of his first competitive round in 15 months.

That briefly gave him a share of the lead in the elite 18-man event on New Providence but the 40-year-old ultimately had to settle for a one-over-par 73 after slipping up on his remaining holes.

His final card contained four sixes, with double bogeys on the 16th and 18th costing him par and proving particularly disappointing.

Nevertheless, there were reasons for optimism with the former world No 1, now ranked 898, showing no obvious signs of discomfort after his long lay-off.

JB Holmes ended the first day with a one-shot lead after shooting an eight-under-par 64 at the Albany course. Hideki Matsuyama was a shot further back on seven under, with Dustin Johnson on six under. Henrik Stenson, Matt Kuchar and Louis Oosthuizen were tied for fourth on five under.

Most of the focus was on Woods, with his return to action much hyped after previous plans to play at the Safeway Open and Turkish Open i n recent months were abandoned.

Woods has had t wo back operations since last playing in August 2015 and, after such a long absence and the injury problems prior to that, he looked nervous at the first tee.

He subsequently missed the fairway but settled and collected his first birdie at the par-five third after setting up the chance with a chip on to the green.

That allayed some fears over his short game and he remained steady until picking up the pace with a run of three successive birdies from the sixth.

At that point he was tied for the lead at four under but he found only heavy rough from the ninth tee and then mishit a chip to the green, dropping him back to three under.

After that he struggled for consistency. He overhit two bunker shots on the 14th and only saved par by holing a putt from off the green. He birdied the 15th after narrowly missing a putt for eagle but found sand and bushes on the 16th and water off the 18th tee to take the gloss off his day.

Afterwards Woods found the positives.

He said: “If you think about it I hit the ball in three bushes and a water ball so it could have been something really good.”

Tiger Woods is a study in concentration as he lines up this putt on the 17th green.