It’s been nearly nine months since Tiger Woods walked 72 holes in competition.
This week, he’ll give it a go at his Hero World Challenge, starting Thursday at Albany down there in the warm, sunny Bahamas.
You may or may not recall that Tiger shot 71-74-78-78 at the 2022 Masters and tied for 47th. Did he come back too soon? The final 36 holes say he did.
At the PGA Championship he gave it a go. He opened with 74, rebounded with a Friday 69 then after Saturday’s monumental struggle that produced a 79, he pulled the plug — WD.
There would be no U.S. Open for Woods, he was saving himself for St. Andrews and this week, Tiger’s pal, Rory McIlroy made a startling revelation regarding the season’s final major — both he and Tiger caught COVID.
Here’s what Rory told the Dublin Sunday Independent:
“Tiger needed a rest on Wednesday. We had played two days of golf at Adare (Manor) and the plan was to play Ballybunion on Thursday. I woke up that morning feeling a bit achy but didn’t really think anything of it. JP (McManus) gave us his chopper and we went down with Sean and Tiger’s manager, Rob *McNamara). We got around fine, flew back to Adare for lunch and as I’m getting up from the table, I’m sore and stiff and super tired.
“I said to Erica (McIlroy’s wife), ‘I’m feeling a bit weird. I’m just going upstairs to lie down for a bit.’ I slept for maybe two hours and the sweat was just pouring off me, then Erica took my temperature and it was sky high. I rang Tiger: ‘I’m not feeling so good here.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I feel okay.’ But he texted me at 10 o’clock that night, chills, fever, and I’m like, ‘F#@*-ing hell, I’ve just given Tiger Covid! This is horrendous!’ (McIlroy then laughed the story said) So we both had Covid going into The Open.”
McIlroy did not say if either he or Woods were ever tested for COVID.
COVID or no COVID, Rory nearly won while Tiger shot 78-75 and didn’t come close to making the cut.
So now it’s time to see how much progress Tiger has made in the five months since the 150th Open Championship.
As usual Tiger has a pretty good field for his shindig. From the world’s top 10 there Scottie Scheffler (no. 2), Jon Rahm (no. 5), Xander Schauffele (no. 6), Justin Thomas (no. 8), Matt Fitzpatrick (no. 9) and 10th-ranked Collin Morikawa — six total from the world top 10.
World No. 11 Viktor Hovland is back as defending champion and the rest of the lineup has: Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Cam Young, Sungjae Im, Max Homa, Shane Lowry, Corey Conners, Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner, Tommy Fleetwood and of course, Tiger his ownself. How did Kevin Kisner get invited?
Naturally, the bulk of the attention will be on Woods and that right leg of his. This is the start of three appearances by Woods in the month of December. He’ll team with Covid Rory for the latest version of “The Match” on Saturday, Dec. 10, at The Pelican Club in Belleair, Florida, and they’ll play a 12-hole, under-the-lights match against J.T. and Jordyyy. After that, we get to see how much Charlie Woods has grown in the past 12 months when he and dad play in the PNC Championship at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Dec. 17 and 18. Tiger and Charlie finished second to the John and John Daly team last year.
So, yes, finally, the world gets three looks at Tiger.
Sure, there will be questions as to where and when he’ll appear in 2023.
But for now, let’s just see how he handles 72 holes in the Bahamas.
BREAKING NEWS: Tiger Woods announced late Monday that he has withdrawn from his own event, citing plantar fasciitis in his right foot; After consulting with his doctors, he pulled out. He still plans to play in “The Match” and the PNC Championship as he will ride a cart in both events. Woods was replaced in the field by Sepp Straka.
Hero Television Schedule:
Thursday/Friday: The Golf Channel: 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. (ET).
Saturday: The Golf Channel: 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (ET); NBC: 2:30 p.m.-5 p.m. (ET).
Sunday: The Golf Channel: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (ET); NBC: 1 p.m.-5 p.m. (ET).
