Most athletes with an damage list as lengthy and detailed as Tiger Woods could be retired from professional sport. Woods, however, is completely different to most athletes.
The 15-time major champion’s much-anticipated return to professional golf on the Hero World Challenge within the Bahamas wasn’t perfect, nor was it ever more probably to be.
But in his first tournament in almost eight months, Woods demonstrated that he can nonetheless be aggressive at a high normal and that his want to maintain enjoying remains undiminished.
He completed on even par at Albany Golf Club on Sunday, inserting 18th out of 20 on the overall leaderboard. His final round featured 5 birdies – together with an excellent long putt on the fifth – in addition to some wayward moments: a double bogey on the second gap and three additional bogeys on the eighth, 11th and 16th.
All in all, there were some promising indicators for the 47-year-old. Woods averaged 305 yards off the tee, proving that his lengthy sport is in good well being, and he additionally showed that his beaten and ageing body can still stand up to the pains of four rounds of competitive golf.
“The physicality of truly enjoying and competing once more – I haven’t accomplished this shortly. It was good to get out there with the guys and have some fun and compete. I just wish I could have played slightly bit cleaner but there’s all the time subsequent time.”
For Woods, next time will be the PNC Championship, a father-son event which tees off in Orlando, Florida on December 14.
This will be the fourth time in a row that Woods has entered the event alongside his son Charlie and his second event since undergoing ankle surgery in April.
In 2024, Woods hopes to play on the PGA Tour as soon as a month. While competing in the Bahamas, he said that the Genesis Invitational in February and the Players Championship in March might be options as he steps up his competitive return.
From there, he may seem on the Masters in April and even on the Olympics in Paris later within the yr.
“Once a month seems affordable, and it gives me a couple of weeks to recover, a week to tune up,” Woods mentioned on Sunday. “Maybe I can get into the rhythm of one thing like that. That’s what the plan was more info going into next yr. I don’t see why that would change.”
During the Hero World Challenge, which Woods hosts, he stated that he had been “pleasantly surprised” along with his bodily restoration between rounds..