Let’s not over-react here.
If you listened to Tiger Woods earlier this week telling you that he can call his shots on the range and then hit them on call, well, maybe you expected him to shoot 64 on Thursday down in the Bahamas.
What Woods found out his first day back on the job, was the old adage that if everything is going perfect, according to plan — it’s an ambush.
So there was El Tigre, host of his Hero World Challenge, coming out of the starting blocks like the fastest man on the planet, smoking the rest of the field. He was only four-under par through his first eight holes.
Yes, maybe his was calling his shots and hitting them, maybe. But then Woods found out what the rest of us have known all along — this game of golf is pretty tough and just when you think you’ve got it all under control, you get bush-wacked.
Woods made a sloppy bogey at the ninth hole, a very gettable par five thanks to a pulled drive that found some very high grass left of the fairway. A pitch-out then a chunked chip from below the green led to a bogey, but it still added up to 33 thanks to 13 putts, seven of nine greens in regulation and some fancy mid-iron approach shots.
Wow, he’s back, seriously. The guy looked like he was on his way to 66 with some par fives on the back nine ripe for the pickin’.
Then golf happened.
Woods fouled up the par five 11th to fall back to two-under. then held his own with working pars until he found the friendly, downwind par five 15th and made birdie there. Three-under and a sub-70 round in the bag, no doubt.
Then came the bad swings.
He was dead-center in the fairway at the par four 16th then hit a devil-ball approach that went and hid in those chunks of tall grass off the fairways at Albany. Wack, barely out, then a so-so pitch, two-putts and Tiger was bitten in the glutes by Mr. Double-Bogey.
After a routine par at 17, he stood on the tee at the 18th with a lot of water in front of him and that TaylorMade M2 flat-out betrayed him again. He hit it then slammed it as he watched his tee shot go Gray-Lady-Down into the water left. Nasty hook.
Four shots later, Woods was bitten in the glutes again by Mr. Double-Bogey’s twin brother.
Four-over for the last three left Woods with a 73 and he won the battle of the bad backs with Justin Rose, who is still recovering from his own back issues. Rose shot 74 and probably got a thank-you note from Tiger in his locker.
Woods put his own Monster Energy spin on things afterward.
“It felt good to have that adrenaline surging through the system, it’s been a long time,” Woods chirped. Perhaps he should have had one rather than three Monster Energies. Too much adrenaline.
“I just made some really, if you look at it, really silly mistakes, mistakes I don’t normally make. I can clean that up, we’ve got three more days.”
Mistakes? Woods hasn’t made any mistakes in 466 days. But then, he hasn’t played in that long.
When you take it all in, he actually did well. He made a lot of putts, didn’t miss any short ones. He had the start, but didn’t have the finish.
Three more days and perhaps an extra Monster Energy at the turn.
10 Comments
RMB
Tom …. Get over it …not bad for his first start after such a long layoff. I guess you didn’t watch his performance today ( I received this article at 4:30 pm …couple hrs. after his blistering round).. guess he humbled you some!
Tom Edrington
Didn’t humble me, I pointed out that no one should over-react after he shot 73. What you need to take into consideration is that this is a very easy resort golf course. Someone’s gonna shoot more than 20 under by the time it’s over. Tiger simply scored on the par fives, which he is supposed to, in fact, they’re all supposed to as they are easy, reachable, wide fairways. Didn’t surprise me at all. I wouldn’t call it a blistering round, I take it you did not see Bubba shoot 63, now that would fall into the “blistering” category.
CR DIX
What a fraud. Since when does a resort course have a 76 par rating 148 slope and most noteworthy is 7400 yes long? Why don’t you tell Ernie Els he built a “resort” course. When the wind blows 1 or 2 under will be a great score. When the wind is down like it has been as with any course some of these guys will light it up. Whatever credibility you thought you had is gone with that one lie. Admit it you don’t like the guy. Might be very healthy for you to say it to your 5 readers. Good luck fool
Tom Edrington
Spoke to a friend who has played down there and he said the course is pretty easy, the fairways are wide enough to land jumbo jets. Bubba shot better than 20 under last year and Hideki is 19 under for only three rounds. This looks like the Bob Hope Desert Classic.
medium mike
” But then Woods found out what the rest of us have known all along”????
— this game of golf is pretty tough and just when you think you’ve got it all under control, you get bush-wacked
Really Tom ? come on
Mike
Tom Edrington
Oh, the game has ambushed the best players as well as the rest of us who have played for more than 30 years. Can’t count the time I shot 33-40 or 35-40 or 34-40 back in my high school and college days. I think Tiger showed that in two of his three rounds so far how difficult it can be to sustain.
medium mike
you are missing my point on your comment ….it was sophomoric….just an observation…when you are in the glare of public writing…it’s gotta be tough
mike
Tom Edrington
And here they’ve been telling me I’ve reached my junior year…..
Matt C
Jeez Tom, I mean I can get that you’re not rooting for the guy to make a comeback in his career, you’re entitled to your but I bet you feel a little silly after Friday’s round where he shot a 65. Like him or not Tiger has done amazing things for the sport of golf. And left quite an indelible mark in the record books. I seriously doubt we’ll ever see anybody change or impact the game the way that he has. And I personally for one think that he’s not done so cut him some slack Tom.
Tom Edrington
You must have missed the column before this one when I listed Tiger’s storied accomplishments, go back and check and you will find that your criticism is unfounded. Tiger has had more comebacks than Carter has pills. Hope he does well, I think he’s a little pompous in thinking he’s going to win 18 majors. And I did cut him some slack if you read where I began the column by saying Let’s no over-react. Didn’t over-react to his 73 and didn’t over-react to his 65. Spoke to someone who has played this course and he told me the fairways are wide enough to land a 757 yet Tiger is having a hard time hitting more than 50% of the fairways.