Woods thrills fans with his charge to top on front nine
NASSAU, Bahamas — One of the biggest cheers Friday at the Hero World Challenge came after spectators saw the name Tiger Woods move to the top of the leaderboard.
It just wasn’t there for long.
In another impressive showing in his latest comeback from back surgery, Woods built on a solid start with a 31 on the front nine at Albany Golf Club that briefly gave him the lead in the second round. He stalled on the back nine with a pair of bogeys and not enough birdie chances, settling for a 4-under-par 68.
“Successful,” Woods said, when asked to describe his round in one word.
He wound up five shots behind Charley Hoffman, whose 63 might have sent fans into a frenzy if they had been watching.
Hoffman made 12 birdies, closing with five in a row, and was at 12-under 132 with a three-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Jordan Spieth (67). Hoffman made only one par over his final 12 holes to go along with eight birdies and three bogeys.
But this tournament, an exhibition with an 18-man field and no cut, is all about Woods. That much was obvious after the round. Hoffman spoke to no more than five reporters; a dozen were about 30 feet away surrounding Joe LaCava, Woods’ caddie, looking for any additional morsel about his round.
Woods delivered plenty on his own. He opened with three birdies in four holes. He made three good pars, one of them by chipping up the slope from a thin lie on No. 8, then really raised hopes with his eagle on the par-5 ninth, set up by a 3-wood into the wind from 265 yards.
“Hit up in the air and took something off of it and cut it back into the wind,” he said.
He made the 20-foot putt to reach 8 under. Behind him, Hoffman made bogey on the par-3 eighth.
Woods was alone in the lead, and workers at the white scoreboard to the left of the green quickly moved his name to the top as some 100 people — that constitutes a large gallery at this event — began cheering. There was a smattering of “He’s back!” and even a few mentions of the Masters.
Woods missed it. He was on his way to the 10th tee, and by the time he saw a leaderboard, it was getting crowded at the top with Hoffman making his run, Spieth chipping in for birdie and setting up another with a tough chip and Fleetwood overcoming a double bogey-bogey start to his back nine with three straight birdies.
Justin Rose (68) was in fourth at 8 under, with Woods part of a five-way tie for fifth.