Tiger Woods had four birdies in his first seven holes. At the Hero World Challenge on Friday, the last few holes proved to be difficult, including a putt that went off the green and into the bunker.
With that summed up to a 2-under 70, Woods trailed Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth by ten strokes, but he was still moving about the Albany Golf Club quite nicely and gradually finding his rhythm.
However, the back nine is not contributing. Woods shot 38 on Friday with a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole, after shooting 39 on the back in the first round. For Woods, the reason he wasn’t finishing higher wasn’t very mysterious.
He laughed and added, “Maybe because I haven’t played in a while.”
This is his first competition since he had ankle fusion surgery a few weeks after withdrawing from the rain-delayed Masters on Sunday morning before beginning his third round.
“You’ll play well as long as you can keep it out of danger,” Scheffler said.
Spieth had a very boring round, at least in comparison to Thursday when he made only 5 pars. He had eagle putts on 4 holes, 2 of which were par 4s. He also didn’t miss a fairway. He shot a 67 this time, bogey-free.
Brian Harman, the winner of the Open, was 1 shot behind Scheffler and Spieth at 9-under 135 after Harman shot 31 on the back 9 to salvage a 69.
When Woods attempted to chip it out of a bush in the sandy ground on the par-5 15th hole, he made a double bogey in the first round. He piped his drive this time, leaving himself with just a 9-iron to the green. However, he blasted it out to 35 feet after pulling it into a bunker with little green in between him and the hole.
It wasn’t the issue. His putt sped passed the hole, off the green, and back into the bunker because it was too firm. To get away with a bogey, he had to make a 15-footer.
At the Masters, Woods once hit a putt off the 13th green into a Rae’s Creek tributary. He couldn’t, however, remember making a putt into the bunker.
“That putt was not very good. I struck it far too hard because there was a downwind. It moved with the wind and the grain before disappearing. I was clearly pissed off. Ultimately, it was an improvement over yesterday.” he said.
Additionally, he lost a brief opportunity for a birdie on the reachable par-4 14th hole, had a 3-putt for bogey on the 13th, and miscued a ball on the hardest hole at Albany, the 16th.
Woods finished in 15th place out of the 20 players, 5 strokes better than his first round but still out of the running for the time being.
“I believe that it’s just a matter of attempting to regain my emotions and my perspective on a shot, as well as the numerous considerations that go through my head when trying to hit the shot at the ideal trajectory, window, form, and distance. I think I performed that task better today, and I have no doubt that I will perform it better tomorrow. I believe those things will start to come back the more competitive rounds and reps I can rack up.” he said.
