Woods has his ups and his downs
GOLF STAR HAD GONE 466 DAYS WITHOUT TOURNAMENT PLAY
Star golfer birdies and blunders in return after 466 days off.
Tiger Woods finished his first tournament in just over 15 months, and it showed Sunday in the Hero World Challenge.
His fourth straight round brought signs of fatigue and focus.
One day after Woods made a brief run up the leaderboard, he made three double bogeys and closed with a 4-over 76, the highest score of the tournament.
Hideki Matsuyama of Japan won for the third straight time Sunday, holding off Henrik Stenson.
Matsuyama, who started the final round at Albany with a sevenshot lead, never let anyone closer than six shots heading to the back nine. He closed with a 1-over 73 to win by two shots.
Woods led the field in birdies with 24. He led the field in double bogeys with six. It added to 15th place out of 17 players.
But this week was not just about numbers. Woods, the dominant player of his generation, had gone 466 days since his previous tournament because of two back surgeries.
The recovery at times made it difficult for him to walk and led him to wonder if he would ever play.
Woods showed plenty of length off the tee. His swing looked comfortable. And after five straight days walking, including the proam, he showed no signs of pain.
“It’s really good to be back playing again, competing,” Woods said. “Unfortunately, I made a lot of mistakes. I made a lot of birdies, but I made a lot of mistakes.” Rust or fatigue? “It’s both,” he said with a laugh. “I made some poor decisions. I hit the ball in some wrong spots. Quite frankly, it feels kind of weird not to be in a cart. Getting my legs back, focusing for a long period of time, these are the things I missed for a year and a half.”
One day after he briefly pulled within two shots of the lead, it was clear early on this day would be a struggle. Woods was scrambling for pars instead of being in a position to attack pins.
Woods was never going to win the tournament — Matsuyama was too far ahead — but it was a chance to post a decent number.
Woods made his third double bogey of the week at the 18th hole, this time without even going into the water.
His tee shot landed in a thick palmetto bush, and he had to take a penalty drop to take it out.
Just his luck, his drop in the sandy waste area settled right in front of the nub of another bush.
Woods managed to keep the week in perspective.
“I made some birdies, which was nice. I was playing aggressively,” he said.
“But I also made some mistakes. I had two 7s. You can’t make two 7s. It adds up to a high number.
“On the flip side, I was able to be aggressive. I need to balance it out.”
Woods starts his climb from No. 898 in the world, the product of not playing since Aug. 23, 2015.
His caddie, Joe LaCava, offered the best perspective.
“I wasn’t going to compare him to the rest of the field,” LaCava said.
“They’ve been playing all year and they’ve been playing great,” he added.
“Honestly, my goal was to get him through five rounds on his feet. That was big.”