Tiger Woods’ golf return at Hero World Problem has momentum stalled

Tiger Woods had a strong spherical occurring Thursday on the Hero World Problem. He stripped his opening tee shot, made just a few lengthy putts, and impressed enjoying associate Justin Thomas with some towering iron pictures.

However his spherical utterly derailed on the par-5 fifteenth gap, the place Woods pulled his tee shot right into a bush.

His ball nestled up towards the vegetation, leaving a clumsy second shot.

Woods then seemed like a middle-handicapper, attempting to gauge it out. He barely succeeded, together with his second shot going simply a few toes.

“I simply tried to advance it into the bunker, hack it out, after which knock it on the inexperienced from there,” Woods stated to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis after the spherical.

“However I didn’t actually fairly get it out, so I needed to pitch it again to the golf green, and I nonetheless had a possibility to stand up and down for bogey, however simply didn’t do it.”

He made a double bogey seven identical to that, going from one-under on the day to one-over, and his momentum utterly stalled.

Woods then noticed his quick sport abandon him on the following holes, as he couldn’t stand up and down for par on the sixteenth. He then three-putted the par-3 seventeenth, which dropped him to 3-over.

The 15-time main champion then made a par on the 18th, thus signing for a 3-over 75. He sits eight strokes behind leaders Tony Finau and Brian Harman, who every shot 5-under 67s.

Woods admitted to feeling “rusty” after his spherical, and the way may you not blame him? He has not performed competitively because the 2023 Masters. Since his automotive accident in February 2021, Woods has performed in six occasions whole.

“I need to compete, I need to play. I felt like I used to be able to compete and play,” Woods stated after his spherical.

Photograph by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR by way of Getty Photographs

“I hit it strong a lot of the day. I simply didn’t mentally do the issues I usually would do, and I have to do. I nonetheless hit it strong, however I hit it crooked. I’ve all the time had a knack for hitting the ball in the course of the face, however I have to do a greater job the place I have to hit it in my home windows.”

Woods struck the center of the membership face together with his opening tee shot, which galvanized the small crowd within the Bahamas. His 326-yard drive on the primary gap was the longest of the day on the opening par-4.

He made par there, and his first birdie got here two holes later, on the par-5 third. However then he went on to make bogey-birdie-bogey over his subsequent three holes.

However the massive spotlight of his spherical got here on the par-5 eleventh, the place he drained a 48-footer for birdie.

That bought him to 1-under, however that was the bottom he would get.

With that stated, Woods is aware of he must be higher.

“You’re taking it as a right, I assume, whenever you’re enjoying on a regular basis,” Woods stated.

“Okay, the wind, it’s developing, [it will] transfer the ball again, you simply type of lean on it just a bit bit, simply flight it down a little bit bit, add a few yards in. As a substitute of reacting to it, I used to be occupied with doing it. Then, as I used to be occupied with it, ought to I do that or not, I used to be pulling the set off. I shouldn’t pull the set off. Hit a nasty shot. I stored doing it time and time once more. It was a scarcity of dedication to what I used to be doing and feeling. I’ve bought to do a greater job of it.”

Fortunately Woods won’t have to fret about making a minimize. The Hero World Problem is a 20-man area with no cuts. He sits in 18th getting into Friday.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. You may comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. You’ll want to take a look at @_PlayingThrough too.