USA TODAY International Edition
Woods tempers expectations in return to Tour
SAN DIEGO – Ten days before his ballyhooed return to the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods started visualizing various shots he’ll need to conquer Torrey Pines during this week’s Farmers Insurance Open.
All the while he had his eye on April, or more specifically the Masters.
Ahead of his first start on the PGA Tour in a year, Woods said Wednesday that his expectations are tempered for now after his extended absences because of back troubles that led to four surgeries since 2014, including a spinal fusion procedure last April.
While once there was a time he expected to win whenever he put a peg into the ground — he’s accumulated 79 PGA Tour titles and 14 majors — Woods is looking to gradually build up his game with each practice round, practice session and PGA Tour event before heading down Magnolia Lane in search of a fifth green jacket.
“To be honest with you, I just want to start playing on the Tour and getting into a rhythm of playing a schedule again,” Woods, 42, said Wednesday after his pro-am round.
“I haven’t done that in such a long time, so I don’t know what to expect. I’m just going to go out there and just play. I’m going to grind, give it everything I possibly have and try to work my way up the board.
“I’m just trying to build towards April. I’m looking forward to playing a full schedule and getting ready for the Masters and I haven’t done that in a very long time. From ’96 on it’s been that way … to try to get ready for Augusta, and there’s no reason to change that.”
He’ll have no issues with his back since his spinal fusion surgery, Woods said, adding there is no pain and his quality of life is “infinitely better” than it was last year when he made a comeback in this exact place. This will allow him to play more rounds and practice longer. And his power, swing and ball speed numbers already are back.
“I hadn’t felt good in four, five years,” Woods said. “Now I’m not flinching, it doesn’t hurt as I take the club back, it doesn’t hurt right before impact, it doesn’t hurt after impact, it doesn’t hurt when I walk. It was a tough go for a while, and now I don’t have any of those feelings.
“I can let it go, I can hit it and I’m getting the ball out there a little bit. I’m starting to hit some shots, I’m starting to shape the golf ball again and now I’ve got to start doing it in a tournament, hitting the shapes, the shots. It’s going to take a little time, but I’m looking forward to it.”
His first big step toward Augusta begins Thursday alongside Patrick Reed and Charley Hoffman on the South Course for the first round. Among Woods’ biggest challenges will be the two courses he has to face — the North and South tracks are long, rimmed with tough, thick rough and feature greens that already are on the firm side.
Adding to the challenge is the fact Woods hasn’t putted on poa (annua) greens or chipped out of rye rough in a year. That’s why he spent extra time during Tuesday’s practice round and Wednesday’s pro-am chipping and putting on and around each green.
“I was trying to remember how in the hell do you play out of rye grass. Everything’s been off of Bermuda (grass) because I’ve been home,” Woods said. “Playing out of rye grass is totally different.”
It’s just another thing Woods has to figure out on his way to Augusta. But he’s excited to go down that path.
“There are times when it is easy to go out there and shoot 65s; I just need to get my game to where it’s like that again,” he said.
“A lot of the guys have been playing well, have been playing a lot, and they’re seasoned. I know this is early in the year, but they’re seasoned already and I’m not. I’m not there yet.
“But I’ll get some tournaments under my belt and keep progressing.”