A year later, no surprises around Woods
Justin Thomas is paired with Tiger Woods in the Hero World Challenge for the second straight year, and just like last time, he has an idea what to expect from him.
By now, so does everyone else.
Woods was a mystery a year ago. He was No. 1,199 in the world ranking when he returned from a fourth back surgery, having competed in only one PGA Tour event since August 2015. Thomas had played golf with him at home in Florida and thought he looked great, a tough sell to those who hadn’t seen Woods.
“The consistency wasn’t there,” Thomas said Wednesday after his pro-am round at Albany Golf Club. “But the great shots — the ones that made you stop and think a second — were. The more we played, the more we saw it. I wasn’t going to say anything because you don’t know what’s going to happen and how he’s going to feel. But I thought if he stays healthy, I think he’s going to win this year.
“First off, it’s him. You always feel like he’s going to do what people don’t expect, because that’s what he loves to do.”
There are no surprises this year.
Woods now is No. 13 in the world as he hosts this holiday tournament for WKH WK WLPH ,W¶V KLV ¿UVW 72-hole tournament since he ended his remarkable comeback by winning the Tour Championship in late September for his 80th career PGA Tour victory.
He twice contended at majors, taking a brief lead Sunday in the British Open and challenging Brooks Koepka to the end at the PGA Championship.
“Just being able to win a golf tournament again, considering where I was at this point last year and (before) that point, I think what I’ve accomplished this year has been pretty special,” Woods said.
,W¶V DQRWKHU VWURQJ ¿HOG DW Albany with six of the top 10 in the world among the 18 players. Missing is Koepka, the U.S. Open and PGA champion who returned to No. 1 in the world this week, along with Jordan Spieth, who got married over the weekend in Texas.
Francesco Molinari, the British Open champion and Ryder Cup star, also chose to take this year off, leaving Masters champion Patrick Reed as the only major FKDPSLRQ LQ WKH ¿HOG
7KH XQRI¿FLDO HYHQW RIIHUV world ranking points, which matters most to Justin Rose because he has a chance to return to No. 1 in his seesaw battle with Koepka. The winner gets $1 million — HYHU\RQH LQ WKH ¿HOG HDUQHG at least $2.6 million on the PGA Tour this season.
For Woods, it’s a chance to build on momentum going into 2019.
“A guy like Tiger, just give KLP D VSHFN RI FRQ¿GHQFH RU a speck of just feeling good, anything can happen,” said Keegan Bradley, a late entry at the Bahamas when Tommy Fleetwood withdrew. “You can see that with Tiger, where he’s just such a good player. He’s going to get some momentum and he’ll do great.”