BAHAMAS, Bahamas (AP) — Tiger Woods started by making four birdies in the first seven holes. In the Hero World Challenge on Friday, the last few holes were tough again. One putt went off the green and into the ditch.
With a score of 2 under, Woods fell 10 shots behind Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, but he was still doing fine at Albany and slowly getting back into the swing of things.
But it doesn’t get better on the back nine. In the first round, Woods shot 39 on the back nine. On Friday, he made a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th to shoot 38. For Woods, it wasn’t hard to figure out why he wasn’t doing better.
“Maybe because I haven’t played in a while,” he laughed.
This is his first tournament since the rain-delayed Masters, where he pulled out before starting the third round on Sunday morning. A few weeks later, he had surgery to fuse his ankles together. Woods hasn’t played all 72 holes since the Masters in 2022.
He said, “I’m rusty.” “This golf course will make you act like that.” You can go this way or that way to run the tables. I’m afraid I haven’t finished my rounds the way I’d like to.”
Scheffler made eight shots on a day that was good for scoring. On his last hole, he lost the lead when he got his ball out of the rough and put it in a waste area behind the 18th hole. He did well to get the ball out to 15 feet, but he missed the putt for a par.
The coach told them, “You’ll do well as long as you can keep it out of trouble.”
Spieth made eagle putts on four holes, two of which were par 4. He didn’t miss a green and had a pretty boring round compared to Thursday, when he only made five pars. He didn’t make any mistakes this time, so he got a 67.
Brian Harman, the defending British Open winner, was one shot behind Scheffler and Spieth at 9-under 135. Harman shot 31 on the back nine to still get a 69.
On the par-5 15th hole, Woods had more trouble. He made double bogey in the first round while trying to cut the ball out of a bush in the soft ground. He hit his drive into the trees this time, so he only had a 9-iron to the green. He hit it 35 feet away, but he pulled it into a bunker, leaving only a small patch of green between him and the hole.
There was no problem with that. His putt was too hard, and it went fast past the hole, off the green, and back into the bunker. It took him 15 feet to get away with miss.
At the Masters, Woods once hit a putt off the 13th green into a stream that flows into Rae’s Creek. He didn’t remember hitting a putt into the hole, though.
He said, “That wasn’t a good putt.” “There was wind behind me, and I hit it too hard.” It moved with the wind and the grain and then it was gone. It was clear that I was mad. It was better than yesterday in the end.
He also missed a short birdie chance on the doable par-4 14th and dropped a shot on the 16th, which was the hardest hole at Albany. On the 13th, he had a three-putt from inside 15 feet for bogey.
However, Woods’ second round was five shots better than the first. He is still 15th in the 20-person group, which means he is still not in the running.
“I think it’s just trying to get my feels back and the way I think about a shot and how many things I have to think about to hit the ball in the right direction, window, shape, and distance,” he said. “I did a better job on that today, and I’m sure I’ll do even better tomorrow.”
“I think those things will start to come back the more rounds and reps I do in a competition setting.”
