Tiger Woods returns to competitive golf with ‘squirrely’ 75, soreness،
NASSAU, Bahamas — After the first round of competition in his latest comeback, Tiger Woods said his surgically repaired right foot and ankle held up well through the first 18 holes of the Hero World Challenge on Thursday.
That’s not to say the 15-time major champion wasn’t suffering.
“My leg, my back, my neck,” Woods said when asked what hurts. “Just playing, hitting shots and trying to hold shots. It’s just different at game speed too. Game speed is a lot different than home speed.”
It probably doesn’t matter that Woods shot a 3-over 75 in the first round, which gave him 18th place out of 20 golfers, 8 shots behind co-leaders Brian Harman and Tony Finau. Or that Woods had a 4-up lead going into the final four holes after appearing to run out of gas.
What probably mattered, at least to Woods, was that he was able to play a competitive round of golf without the excruciating pain he felt at the Masters in April, when he was forced to retire at the third round.
Woods, who turns 48 next month, underwent subtalar fusion surgery on his right ankle two weeks after the Masters to treat post-traumatic arthritis caused by injuries suffered in a car accident away from Los Angeles in February 2021.
“I was going to have to have that ankle replaced or fused at some point,” Woods said. “It just wore out and I was dealing with bone on bone for several months. I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
Playing in his first PGA Tour event in more than seven months, Woods was rusty. He made five bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-5 15th, the easiest hole on the course. Woods hit just six of 13 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation. He lost 2.09 strokes on the field on approach.
Woods said he was never entirely comfortable with the ball.
“In the middle of my round, it was a lack of engagement, and it kind of carried over into some of the later holes,” Woods said. “I didn’t commit to certain shots. I was a little worried about whether I should hit this shot, this height, this trajectory. The wind is blowing, it’s not, it’s setting. All the shots “Of course, in terms of feel and fit, I lacked engagement on a number of different levels.”
There were some positives during the round. Woods crushed a 326-yard drive on his first tee shot and had good club speed. He made birdie putts from 22 feet at No. 3, 28 feet at No. 5, 48 feet at No. 11 and 4½ feet at No. 14. He was 1 under after 14 holes.
“I wanted to compete, I wanted to play,” Woods said. “I felt ready to compete and play. I was OK most of the day. Like I said, I just didn’t mentally do the things that I normally would and need to do. “I still made it, but I hit it crooked. I’ve always had a knack for hitting the ball in the middle of the face, but I need to do a better job of hitting it in my windows.”
Woods will have three more chances to do so this week. The Hero World Challenge, an unofficial tour event, is a 72-hole, no-cut tournament.
