Birdies and blunders, but a healthy week for Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods might have earned plaudits from some with his return to competition at the Hero World Challenge on Thursday, but one former player was unimpressed with the 14-time major winner’s swing.

Woods’ round looked very good entering the back nine, after a 4-under front, highlighted by a hole-out from the bunker on the par three sixth.

Shot of the day: As a follow-up to his 7-under 65 Friday, Tiger Woods got off to a red-hot start Saturday at the Hero World Challenge.

The 14-time Major victor, who came through 72 holes unscathed in the 18-man event in the Bahamas, had three double bogeys, three bogeys and five birdies as he finished with his worst round of the week.

“As I said yesterday, I had it going for eight holes and I lost it”, said Woods, who is ranked No. 898 in the world.

He was in 17th place in the 18-man field. “Unfortunately, hit a few bad putts there in the middle part of the round”. Woods has played the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Classic and the Omega Desert Classic in the past, and those tournaments bookend the Farmers Insurance Open.

The burly Holmes, who had a 64 on Thursday, was in the lead at 12 under when his tee shot found the water on the par-three 12th hole. Just like that, it all started to feel as though he had never been away. “I’ll have a couple weeks off, work with my physios, get a little bit stronger. and then really assess, OK, what’s the plan, what’s the smart play?”

“By the time I hit my tee shot on the second hole, I had already gotten into the flow of the round”, Woods said.

“This week was pretty cool because I made some birdies this week, I felt like I did really well in that regard, but I also made just some really silly mistakes”. A full schedule for Woods likely means 15 to 20 events, plus non-Tour events and exhibitions; he played 16 Tour events in 2013 and 19 in 2012. A long birdie effort from off the green didn’t miss by much, and he dropped the par putt with a wave to the crowd and a smile as he walked off. Long gone. Going forward, and especially when he has more time to deal with his new equipment and build up his strength, he’s confident he’ll get better.

With plenty to choose from, Woods was most pleased that he kept his card clean of bogeys, grinding when he had to among the palm trees and remaining focused at all times.

His caddie, Joe LaCava, offered the best perspective.

O’Malley was elected to the chairman’s role in June this year and has been monitoring feedback from players at Royal Pines as they take to the revamped course, which has still to fully mature after renovations. “I’ve tried to go back and look at and do some stuff that I used to do as a junior that I did naturally”. “Honestly, my goal was to get him through five rounds on his feet”.