Tiger’s 68 is good, but Fowler’s 61 best
NASSAU, Bahamas — Rickie Fowler was the first player to offer a scouting report on Tiger Woods ahead of his celebrated return to golf, hinting that Woods was hitting it “way by” him in some of their matches in Florida.
Fowler’s own game apparently was in pretty good shape, too.
Seven shots behind to start the final round of the Hero World Challenge, Fowler opened with seven birdies Sunday and closed with an 11-under-par 61 to set the course record at Albany Golf Club and win by four shots over Charley Hoffman.
Woods, playing for the first time in 10 months while recovering from fusion surgery on his lower back — his fourth back surgery in three years — shot another 31 on the front nine and closed with back-to-back bogeys for a 68 to tie for ninth in an 18-man field, 10 shots behind Fowler.
Fowler finished at 14-under 274. Hoffman shot 72. Tommy Fleetwood, the Race to Dubai winner from England who is getting married Tuesday in the Bahamas, closed with a 67 and tied for third with Jordan Spieth (69), who has not finished out of the top 10 since the PGA Championship.
Fowler played twice with Woods before he was runnerup at the OHL Classic in Mexico, and then a couple of more times before Thanksgiving.
“I think he sharpened me up a little bit,” Fowler said, smiling. “I’ve gotten a little scared of how good he was playing at home, thought I needed to start playing a little bit better or something.”
Fowler and Woods each had cause for celebrations, large and small, in the Bahamas.
Fowler won his second title of the year, making it the second time he has ended a year with multiple victories worldwide. Woods made a return to golf that was solid with his health and his game, and he headed into the holidays thinking about a schedule for 2018.
“I’m excited,” Woods said after closing with a 68. “This is the way I’ve been playing at home.”
Woods had his best result in four years. More than his score, he looked strong from start to finish, including a vicious recoil on a 2-iron he hit from 265 yards on the third hole that ran over the back of the green.
He has not said where he will start in 2018. The best bet is the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where he has won eight times. “I don’t know what my schedule is going to be, but my expectations are we’ll be playing next year,” he said. “How many? Where? I don’t know yet, but we’ll figure it out.”