Tiger Woods left 'hurting everywhere' after sore finish in latest return at Hero World Challenge

Woods shoots three-over par in comeback round as Harman and Finau set pace

He may be an old hand at making comebacks, but it’s not getting any easier for Tiger Woods. “I hit a lot of shots. I was rusty. I didn’t have my feels,” said the 15-time major winner of the golf side of things as he carded a three-over-par 75 in the first round of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

As for the physical challenge as he made his first appearance since The Masters in April, that was even more telling as he reflected on the opening step on the road he hopes can lead to him planning a schedule of playing once a month in 2024. “I'm sore, there's no doubt about that,” he admitted. Anywhere specific? “Everywhere,” he added. “My leg, my back, my neck. Just from playing, hitting shots and trying to hold off shots. It's just different at game speed, too. Game speed's a lot different than at home speed.”

Before getting his round underway in the company of close friend Justin Thomas, Woods stood for a short while on the first tee with his head bowed. As he looked at the ground, it was one of those penny-for-your-thoughts moments. Not for the first time in his career, he was probably reflecting on being thankful about simply being able to be back playing again.

Tiger Woods reacts during the first round of the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Course oin Nassau, Bahamas. Picture: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images.

In his pre-event press conference, the five-time winner said of his third comeback in this particular event that he was “just as curious as all of you are to see what happens because I haven’t done it in a while”. Watched by a crowd of just 200 or so, which was purely down to it being predominantly made up of residents of the ultra-exclusive Albany resort, his opening blow was a thing of beauty.

As had been the case in Wednesday’s pro-am, it was striped down the middle, this one being a 326-yarder and he then shaved the edge of the hole with a 15-foot birdie attempt. It soon became apparent, though, that his revered putting touch had not been affected through being absent. “Let’s go” was the cry from more than one fan around the second green as he rolled in a 15-foot par save there before his first birdie of the day from a similar distance at the par-5 third was greeted with similar joy from the spectators.

As was a curling left-to-right 20-footer for a 2 at the fifth, which atoned for a bogey at the previous hole, though the first sign of a bit of rustiness then led to him running up a disappointing bogey-6 at the sixth before closing the front nine with three solid pars to be out in 36, which, under the circumstances, was a commendable effort.

With Grace Crawford, the young North Berwick player who is on a scholarship at the Albany Academy having joined the crowd following him around, a huge smile lit up Woods’s face as he holed a 40-footer at the long 11th for a birdie before the tone of his day suddenly changed dramatically. A pushed tee shot at the par-3 12th came totally out of the blue and led to a dropped shot there, though, in fairness, he got that back as a lovely chip set up his fourth birdie of the round at the driveable 14th.

What really spoiled his return to action was then running up a double-bogey 7 at the 15th, where his tee shot ended up in a bush. After being uncharacteristically hasty in such a position, he took a one-handed swipe at it and just got it out but, even then, he had to play backwards with his third shot.

By that stage, the slight limp he now has when walking had become a bit more pronounced and, as successive bogeys were then run up at the next two holes, it was evident that the physical challenge of being back playing 18 holes was clearly starting to take its toll on the 47-year-old and, of course, that was surely to be expected.

“I felt like I was ready to compete and play,” said Woods. “I hit it solid most of the day, but I hit it crooked. I just didn't mentally do the things I normally would do and I need to do. I've always had a knack of hitting the ball in the middle of the face, but I need to do a better job where I need to hit it in my windows.

“I didn't play the par 5s particularly well all day. I had really a lack of commitment through most of the middle part of my round and finishing. I just didn't quite commit to what I was doing and feeling. You take it for granted, I guess, when you're playing all the time. Instead of reacting to it, I was thinking about doing it. Then, as I was thinking about it, should I do this or not, by then I'm pulling the trigger. I shouldn't really pull the trigger. Hit a bad shot. I kept doing it time and time again. It was a lack of commitment to what I was doing and feeling. I've got to do a better job of it.”

The effort left Woods eight shots off the lead as Open champion Brian Harman and fellow American Tony Finau set the pace with matching 67s, one ahead of Jordan Spieth, who had two eagles on a card that contained just five pars. “We’ve got some stuff to do tonight to get ready for tomorrow and hopefully post a better number,” said Woods, the tournament host.