He made his first birdie of the day two holes later on the par-5 third hole. The shot, his second on the 572-yard, par-5 at Albany Golf Club on Thursday, was hit nearly too flush.
Advertisement
Woods, who hosts the tournament to the benefit of his charitable foundation, did make one rookie error.
“Probably my putting. My speed’s off”.
In his storied career, he has entered – and won – tournaments with less preparation, but it has been more than three years since Woods’ last title.
You could insist he appeared very much like a different Tiger of old when he failed to get a delicate chip onto the surface from just left of the ninth green. After MJ retired from the Chicago Bulls, he eventually found himself needing to return to play the sport he loved for another shot at showing his greatness.
“There’s nerves, of course, because I care about what I do out there”, Woods said.
He also noted that Bubba Watson won a year ago at 25-under par, and it probably will take something around that to win. The Hero World Challenge is his first tournament before the 2017 season, where everybody hopes to see his characteristic talent.
Going into the tournament, Watson is ranked at No.10. Meanwhile, trailing Holmes on the leaderboard is Hideki Matsuyama with a 7-under 65, and Dustin Johnson at 6-under 66.
There were times during his 15 months away from golf that Woods wasn’t entirely sure that would be the case.
“He’s the only person … in the last 30 years in golf that any expectation you set, he’ll somehow prove to you that he can do better”, Spieth said. Had a couple months off other than China.
“I’ve always thought that he’s got at least another 10 years of good competitive golf in front of him, if he’s healthy and as talented as he is”, Nicklaus said. “He’s got all the experience, and it might take a bit of time and it might go quickly, you never know”. Woods’s outward nine of 33 contrasted markedly with an inward half of 40.
Tiger Woods measures success by just being able to compete at the Hero World Challenge, where the former world number one returns from the longest layoff of his career today. “It didn’t look pretty at the start but somehow I was 2 under after 3 and then hung in there and finished well”.
“So let’s get him playing again”.
Since Woods last played competitively, Nike has stopped manufacturing golf equipment, meaning another change for the 14-time major victor. I can’t even get out of bed. “I’m more concerned about what my body is going to be feeling, the energy, the surge of adrenaline going through my system”. “It’s all about eliminating those errors and mistakes”. It’s attractive here. I mean, it’s hard to beat this place. Woods seems to have similar motivation as he’s taking on some of the new best players in the game since he’s been sidelined. “It should be fun”, Reed said.
Holmes shot 8-under 64 on Thursday. “I felt the competitive flow early in the round, by the time I had hit my second tee shot I was already into the flow of the round”. The course is longer.
“An improvement in average of 0.06 [ranking points] would have minimal impact in the higher reaches of the ranking, so the fact that Tiger would climb from 898 to around 750 is simply a measure of how low in the ranking he now sits”, Barker said.
Advertisement
“It’s the last week of the year”. “I can walk on a treadmill for two, three hours”. I think the weekend will play tougher than the weekend previous year.
