Tiger Woods stumbles in first round at Hero World Challenge
For the first time in years, Tiger Woods teed it up at his small-field Hero World Challenge event in the Bahamas in good health, his game in order. But the result in the first round was more like the Tiger Woods of 2014-17 — unspectacular and borderline cringeworthy.
Woods, who finished with a one-over 73, spent a fair amount of time in DFL — last place — before rallying a bit on the final few holes.
Woods started slow, bogeying the second hole after a poor approach and then falling into a tie for last place when he bogeyed the fifth with a misread putt. Back-to-back birdies on 6 and 7 pulled Woods back to even heading into the turn. But everything fell apart on the 12th, when he triple-bogeyed a par 3 after taking an unplayable lie. He birdied 15 and closed with a birdie on 18.
“I didn’t feel quite comfortable with my game,” Woods said after the round, “and it was reflected in the score.”
Woods hit the clubhouse eight strokes behind leader Patrick Cantlay and Patrick Reed, who made headlines before the tournament by speaking out on the Ryder Cup yet again. If Woods is going to make a run and get back into this, he’ll need to start soon.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
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