- Tiger Woods has not played a tournament since withdrawing from The Masters
- The 15-time major winner underwent successful ankle surgery in April
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Tiger Woods made another long-awaited return to golf on Thursday as he kicked off the Hero World Challenge on Thursday.
Woods, 47, gave fans a long-awaited glimpse of his game on Thursday as he returned to the court for the first time in nearly eight months.
Playing in the Hero World Challenge, the limited-field PGA Tour tournament hosted in the Bahamas, Woods returned from injury, playing competitively for the first time since April.
Woods’ last appearance came at The Masters earlier this year when he battled pain from worsening plantar fasciitis from his 2021 car accident during a raucous third round at undulating Augusta National before the elements forced him to withdraw, making later ankle surgery.
He kept a relatively low profile since then, until this week. Woods held a pre-tournament press conference Tuesday before teeing off for the first round with longtime friend Justin Thomas at 11:52 a.m. ET Thursday.
Woods, the main attraction, drew into a crowd on the first tee box before smashing his opening drive 326 yards down the middle of the fairway.
Even through the first two holes, Woods’ first birdie fell on the first third. With 65 feet left on the green, the American showed off his deft hands with a neat chip before sinking the 22-foot putt to get through the red.
The PGA Tour legend made the turn at par after carding two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine.
The 15-time major winner claimed he didn’t know what to expect when he teed off for the first time since April, admitting at his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday that his game was “rusty”.
“My game is rusty,” Woods admitted. “I haven’t played in a while and I’ve had my subtalar fused, so I’m excited to compete and play.
“I’m just as curious as all of you to see what happens because I haven’t done it in a while, and I can tell you this, I don’t have any of the pain that I had at Augusta or before. -the one on my ankle. Other parts take the brunt, so I’m in a little more pain in other areas, but the ankle is fine. So that operation was successful.’
However, he appeared to brush off that rust on Wednesday as he warmed up for this week’s tournament in the Pro-Am competition.
He ran into the first group at 8.20am. together with Dr. Pawan Munjal, the managing director and chief executive officer of Hero MotoCorp who appeared alongside Woods at his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday morning.
The golf legend hit his first pinstripe tee shot, which was knocked down midway, and went on to shoot a par with two birdies and two bogeys.
Wood played just nine holes Wednesday to conserve energy and rest his body before Thursday’s main round.
Woods isn’t at Albany Golf Club this week for a leisurely stroll through the fairways under the Bahamian sun. The icon reiterated once again that he wouldn’t be competing if he didn’t think he had a chance to win.
“I like to compete. I like to play. I miss being here with the kids. I miss the camaraderie and the brotherhood atmosphere out here, and the general banter,” Woods said.
“But what drives me is that I love to compete. There will come a time, I haven’t quite gotten over it yet, when I won’t be able to win again. When that day comes I will walk.’
When pressed on whether that meant he still believes he can win again, which could break his tie with Sam Snead for the PGA Tour record wins, the golf icon adamantly replied: “Absolutely.”