By Herschel Caldwell
ALBANY, Bahamas . Tiger played all four rounds at the Hero World Challenge pain free from the latest series of back surgeries.
Tiger, who had his back fused just seven months ago, finished the tournament that he hosts to benefit his foundation with rounds of 69-68-75-68.
It was his first competitive golf tournament since early February so expectations weren’t that high – yet he beat half the field (tied 9th) in the 18-man event at Albany… although far back from the sizzling finish put on by the winner Ricky Fowler.
Tiger put on a dazzlingly display of power and speed for anyone coming back from four back surgeries since his five tournament wins in 2013.
The 14-time major champion will turn 42 on December 30 and his likely schedule is yet to be confirmed however there were enough positives from the four rounds to suggest Woods can be a regular contender again.
“I’m excited,” Tiger said Sunday. “I had the adrenaline going and overall I’m very pleased. I knew I was going to be able to play all four rounds, that weren’t going to be an issue. The issue was how was my scoring going to be, how was my feel, how am I going to get used to the adrenaline in my system for the first time in a while.
“We’re going to sit down, we’ll figure it out, where I’m going to start, how much I’m going to play, rest periods, training cycles, the whole nine yards,” Tiger added.
“My expectations are we’ll be playing next year. How many, where, I don’t know yet, but we’ll figure it out.”
In the meantime, Woods said he would continue his recent trend of playing money games against Fowler, Justin Thomas and other young stars from the TOUR.
If history is an indicator, Tiger will play ten to fifteen events and hopefully play his way onto the Ryder Cup team as a playing assistant captain. But that’s down the road and for now Tiger plans to enjoy “pain free” living and “playing competitive golf again.”
Welcome back Tiger.
