Woods

final round of the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village, when eventual winner Collin Morikawa made a do-or-die 24-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to extend a playoff, only moments after Justin Thomas had buried a 50-footer.

“To see J.T. make that putt, he’s screaming, but no one else is screaming. And then when Collin makes it — he didn’t have that much of a reaction — but the whole hillside on 18 would have just erupted,” said Woods, who watched on his computer from his home in Jupiter Island, Florida.

Woods, who has won the Memorial a record five times, knows how raucous crowds can get, especially at hot-spot gathering areas like holes 14 and 18.

“I’ve been there when they’re throwing drinks towards the greens, and people screaming, high-fiving, people running around, running through bunkers. That’s all gone. That’s our new reality that we’re facing,” he said.

Woods will face it for the first time, having opted to remain on the sidelines through the first five events since the tour restart on June 11.

“It feels great to be back. I hadn’t played on a tournament venue in a while,” he said.

It has been even longer since he played a tournament round without galleries, but he has done it.

Last fall, thunderstorms kept fans away from the second round of the Zozo Championship in Japan. Woods shot 64 and eventually won the tournament to tie Sam Snead for the most victories in tour history, with 82. In 2012, Woods shot his low round of the week on Saturday at the AT&T National when storms kept fans outside the gates. He went on to record his 74th win to move past Jack Nicklaus on the list.

He is not sure how he will adjust to not having crowds follow his every move this week.

“I’m going to have to just put my head down and play. But it’s going to be different, no doubt about it,” Woods said. “For most of my career, pretty much almost every competitive playing round that I’ve been involved in I’ve had people around me, spectators yelling, a lot of movement inside the gallery with camera crews and media.”

Woods can’t remember anything like it.

“For some of the younger guys, it’s probably not particularly different,” he said. “They’re not too far removed from college, or they’ve only been out here for a year or two. But for some of the older guys, it’s very eye-opening.”

Woods is one of the older guys now. roller@dispatch.com

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