Tiger Woods made his comeback on Thursday after sixteen months out due to injuries and did so in good form, even if in the end he recorded a round of 73 strokes (one over par).
The former world number one, on the first day of the Hero World Challenge, played at the Albany course on the Bahamian island of New Providence, started strongly, with four birdies in the first eight holes – three of them in a row – to get to 4 under early on, but then went into a slump with bogeys at the 9th and 11th.
The Californian recovered the good feelings with a new birdie on the 15th, but a double bogey on the 16th and another one on the 18th ended up spoiling his first card. “It could have been a good day,” Woods said after finishing, “but I did some stupid things.”
The Hero World Challenge is part of the PGA Tour and is a charity tournament of the foundation that bears the name of the American golfer and is played by only 18 golfers.
Tiger Woods won it five times, most recently in 2011, and surpasses Davis Love III and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, who both won the trophy twice.
Woods, 41, has 79 titles on the PGA Tour (14 of them in Majors), the last one in 2008 when he won the U.S. Open.
Since his last victory, Woods’ best finish was a fourth place at the 2010, 2011 and 2013 Augusta Masters, a third at the 2012 British Open and another fourth place at the U.S. Open in 2010. He is currently ranked 898th in the world rankings.
Woods is second last and is nine strokes behind the first leader, his compatriot J.B. Holmes, who started with 64 (-8), with seven birdies, an eagle and a single bogey.
Holmes is one shot ahead of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and two ahead of American Dustin Johnson, world number 3. The Olympic champion, Englishman Justin Rose, closes the table.
Leave a Reply