Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama tied for lead in Bahamas

Let’s face it, few in the golf world had high expectations for Tiger Woods as he returned to tournament play for the first time in nearly 16 months.

Tiger Woods failed to turn a brilliant start into a round which would have put him in contention at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, but there were more positive signs as he continued his competitive comeback.

ISLAND, Bahamas-Tiger Woods was never a serious threat to win the Hero World Challenge, and thanks to Hideki Matsuyama, neither was anyone else.

Even so, Woods has made 19 birdies in three rounds of his first tournament in 15 months.

His Bahamas return followed a layoff of 466 days and two surgeries to his back.

Overall, he made 24 birdies over 72 holes and finished with eight bogeys and six double bogeys.

His tee shot on the 16th, where he made double bogey Thursday, took a wild hop into a bush in the sandy area.

MALELANE, South Africa – Brandon Stone made an eagle on the last hole to jump into a one-shot lead after the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

Still, tournament host Woods, a 14-time major champion, was not completely unhappy despite being 11 shots back in 10th place in the 17-player event that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. And it looked like it would get even closer on the par-5 15th.

Johnson had three birdies in a row on his front nine and then upped the pace with some blistering drives, including a 349-yard monster thrash on the par four 18th that gave him a birdie. “He’s going to be one of the players that we’re going to have to beat for a long time”.

Stenson, Matusyama s final-round playing partner, closed the gap with a birdie at the par-5 sixth but Matsuyama held tough by sinking an eight-foot par putt at the eighth. He shot a 67 to tie Johnson at 12-under 132. “I knew he wasn’t going to come out before he was ready, and I think he’s shown that he waited the right amount of time”. “I got it pretty quick”.

“I can’t say that I played well [Sunday], but I did win Tiger’s tournament and what a great honor that is, ” Matsuyama said.

Woods sent a fourth consecutive tee shot into the beach grains at 16, then found a greenside bunker, but he blasted out to six feet and sank the par putt.

Of all that will be said by the time Woods wraps up his 72nd hole on Sunday, and all that is said today, tomorrow, and ever after, nothing will be more salient than Fowler’s words.

“But I’m so happy to be back out here and competing that this level with these guys, and fighting”.

Justin Rose, who opened with a 74, withdrew with back problems. To tennis player Juan Martin del Potro, a one-time U.S. Open champion whose four wrist operations cost him two years of his career and who started 2016 ranked 1,041st in the world and ended it by leading Argentina to its first Davis Cup title? Two weeks later, he won the Taiheiyo Masters on the Japan Golf Tour by seven.

“I hope I can keep playing well this week, and continue to play this well going into next year”, he said.