The Scotsman

“The more big-time players we have on Tour, the better it is for the game globally and he is one of those”

Plenty of interest in Woods’ 2018 return

- Martin Dempster

Sergio Garcia says the European players in Dubai will be watching with interest as TIGER WOODS rejoins the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines today.

Twelve months after being the star attraction – well, for a round anyway – at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Tiger Woods is a focus of attention again this week at Emirates Golf Club, even though he is 8,400 miles away.

The 14-time major winner makes his comeback today in a regular PGA Tour event, the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in California, where he has triumphed eight times, including his last major – the 2008 US Open.

It’s his first outing since an encouragin­g return in the Hero World Challenge in December after having back surgery for the fourth time last April and the likes of Rory Mcilroy, Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els will be watching with interest from afar.

“I think everyone is intrigued,” said Mcilroy of Woods being in a regular event for the first time since hobbling around the Majlis Course here a year ago, withdrawin­g after the first round and then having that back surgery.

“Even scrolling through Instagram this morning and seeing some of the clips from yesterday, seeing how he’s swinging, seeing how he’s moving; I think everyone wants to see how he gets on,” added Mcilroy.

“Just having Tiger in the conversati­on in golf is huge. It’s great for the game. It’s better for the players. It creates more interest. There’s more of a buzz about golf

“Hopefully his body lets him play a nice, consistent run of events for the next few years and we’ll see where that gets him. He’s hungry to get back out there and play, so it will be interestin­g to see.”

Woods, who shot three rounds in the 60s as he finished joint ninth behind Rickie Fowler on that latest comeback in the Bahamas, is 20-1 to win this week and is the same for the Masters, having been 100-1 when the betting opened for the first major of the 2018 campaign.

Garcia said: “It’s going to be interestin­g but, in my opinion, it’s a big question mark to see how he’s going to be able to do physically.

“I think that he looked pretty good at the Hero Challenge. But he has looked good at the Hero Challenge in the past and then, you know, he hasn’t lasted too long.

Speaking on the eve of his title defence in Dubai, Garcia added: “Hopefully he’s able to get in a bit of a rhythm when it comes down to playing tournament­s. But nobody knows. I think I can say that probably he doesn’t even know how his back and his body is going to cope with everything that goes on with playing tournament­s and practising and everything that comes with it. So we’ll see.”

Asked how important he thought it was for golf to have Woods back playing for a prolonged period, the Masters champion added: “Of course we need him. He’s done so much for the game. If he’s not there, will the game of golf fall apart? I don’t think so. But the more big-time players we have on Tour, the better it is for the game globally and he’s obviously one of those.”

Els added: “I saw him [Woods] at the Presidents Cup and he was kind of downtalkin­g his chances and so on but I could see he’d done a lot of work physically and you could feel he was getting ready for something.

“He was really getting ready for this year, and physically, feels as strong as ever.

“I just hope his back holds up because he’s hitting it hard again. It all looks good for a good year from him, hopefully.”

That certainly looks like being the case for Mcilroy after his promising return in last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championsh­ip following a three-month break. The 28-year-old broke par in all four rounds to finish joint hird behind tommy fleet wood and is now relishing the opportunit­y to build on that effort in an event he won in 2009 and 2015.

Mcilroy said: “Last week was above expectatio­ns for me, to be honest, and I guess that has changed the way I view this week a little bit

“I feel like I’ve got a bit of a spring back in in my step and I’m very confident in myself. It’s a golf course I know how to get around and I know how to shoot good scores on.”

Garcia got his 2018 campaign off to a flying start by winning the Singapore Open on Sunday and the Spaniard is aiming to back up last season’s major breakthrou­gh. He said: “The goals are still the same: trying to keep improving and getting better in all aspects of the game.”

Asked if he felt it should now be easier to win another major, he added: “Yeah, we have won one already, but it doesn’t mean that the next one is going to be easy. It doesn’t work like that.

“It’s still pressure and trying to overcome things and achieve things. Maybe if you’re in a situation to win, you feel a little bit more comfortabl­e, but it doesn’t mean it becomes easy.”

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? 0 Tiger Woods had an encouragin­g outing at the Hero World Challenge with three rounds in the 60s.
0 Tiger Woods had an encouragin­g outing at the Hero World Challenge with three rounds in the 60s.
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom