Tiger Woods Was Simply Happy To Be Back

Some expectations were off the charts unrealistic.

Some were tempered.

Tiger Woods said before he went out Thursday that he didn’t have high expectations but promised he’d grind it out for 18 holes.

That’s exactly what he did at the Farmers Insurance Open, first day, first step of what he hopes will be some sort of comeback to the PGA Tour.

It was good to see him, good to see him feeling okay, not wincing, making some pretty good swings at times.

What you got from Tiger was a mixed bag on the South course at Torrey Pines.  There were some really, really good shots, some really, really poor shots and a lot of in-between stuff.

He might have hit the best shot of any player in the field at the 188-yard par three 16th as his round was winding down.  He hit a high six-iron into the 188-yard hole, pin cut left.  It came in perfect, bounced off the fringe and started rolling like a putt.  Looked like it had a great chance to go in and nearly did.  Stopped a foot away.  “Couldn’t see anything from the tee,” Woods would later say.  “Was listening for some noise.”  He got it and later when he saw the replay quipped “the wind got it.”

Woods was a different guy out there.  Actually flashed a few smiles.

“It was fun to compete again,” was his first thought when his work was done.  “We had a good group.  Patrick (Reed) played a great round, Charlie (Hoffman) was solid.  I was probably a little rusty.”

No probably about it, the 14-time major champion was shaking off the rust.  This was no Albany in the Bahamas.  This was Torrey South, a real test.

The weather gave him a break.  The predicted 15-mile-per-hour winds failed to show up.  But the crowds did.

They let out a groan right off the bat when Woods made bogey out of the box at No. 1. when he couldn’t get up-and-down from a greenside bunker.  Another one came at the fifth, another trap shot, another bogey.  Two-over and in need of a bounce-back, he hit a great drive and a crisp four-iron into the par five sixth, gave it one of those club twirls on the second, his “look at me” move. Nearly made it from 45 feet for eagle.  First birdie of 2018 season.

Tiger’s best wedge shot of the day came at the 10th,  stuck it in there a foot.  His worst came later at the easy par five 13th, at 540 yards, it was the easiest hole on the course Thursday.  His third shot there was a fat, ugly pull with a sand wedge.  He hit a nice bunker shot to just outside three feet then made a poor read and missed the par putt.

Analyst Peter Kostis believed that Tiger was lined up left too many times on his putts.  Sir Nick Faldo blamed it on Tiger’s 42-year-old eyes.

Bad news for Woods is that he had the left-right miss combo off the tee in that first round.  Good news is he steadied himself enough to play the last three holes one-under, thanks to that spectacular six-iron at 16.  His final number was 72, four back of Reed, one back of Hoffman.  Both his playing partners got him.

At the end of the day, he was six back of the best scores on the South Course.

No big deal.

This is the 2018 version of Tiger Woods.

Seventy-two was a good day’s work for a guy who’s been on the shelf as long as he has.

So while you take in this comeback, temper the expectations.

Appreciate the hard work he’s done just to get himself to this point.

He’s got rounds to play.

Just keep in mind this isn’t the Tiger Woods from days gone by.