The First Look: Sentry Tournament of Champions

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Aaron Wise cruised to his first PGA Tour victory Sunday, shattering the AT&T Byron Nelson record at 23 under on a new course in a race to finish before nightfall after a four-hour rain delay.

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ORLANDO, Fla. – It has become something of a December tradition, much in the spirit of shiny wrapped presents and kids caroling on the sidewalk: Tiger Woods shows up after a long layoff in the relaxed atmosphere of the year-end PNC Championship, provides a glimpse of better-than-expected form, and ducks back behind the curtain of the home laboratory. It leaves us with many questions to ponder as we sip our holiday eggnog. The biggest curiosity is this: When will we see Tiger Woods competing again? After two days enjoyed alongside his 13-year-old son, Charlie, at PNC – Team Woods tied for eighth – Woods said he would be shutting things down to get his health in order. As he continues to rehab from an early 2021 SUV accident that could have cost him his right leg, if not his life, Woods now must get past a painful clash with plantar fasciitis in his right foot that has greatly limited his ability to walk. That could take months. Will he play in the Genesis Invitational that benefits his own foundation in mid-February? Likely too soon. Can he be ready for a small sampling of golf in March, during the Florida Swing? Maybe aim to return in time for another Masters, where last April the five-time winner of the green jacket not only showed up, but played on the weekend? “I think it’s going to be more later than sooner just by his reactions to how his leg is feeling, how his foot is feeling, and how his game is,” said John Cook, a Golf Channel analyst who has been close to Woods through the years. “We’ll have to wait and see how his body is going to be able to support the work that he’s going to need to do to get competitive. He won’t go out there until he thinks he’s competitive.” Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, said Woods’ physical performance at the PNC was better than he expected to see, especially considering how Woods had looked to him a month earlier. LaCava flew down to Florida to work with Woods in preparation for the Hero World Challenge, but things were so bad with Woods’ ailing foot they made the decision to stop working. Woods had the luxury of playing out of a cart for two days at PNC, which he won’t have when he returns to the PGA TOUR. It was a huge factor in him being able to play. As far as Woods’ golf, LaCava liked what he saw in many of the shots Woods was striking at PNC. Woods showed plenty of speed in his swing, and his short game, for a man who hadn’t competed since July’s Open Championship, was “tidy.” “I think he drove it well, and pretty consistent,” LaCava said. “Enough distance. A few past JT (Thomas), but that’s not what we’re looking for. It’s just about hitting it solid. More important to me, it’s about hitting the shot that he’s trying to hit. Sit up there and hit a high cut, and that’s what he’s hitting. … if he’s hitting the shot that he’s trying to hit, I’m good with that.” Examples? There was the 558-yard fifth hole at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on Sunday, where Woods roasted a drive well past Thomas, then went at the green with an 8-iron, leaving his ball 15 feet below the hole. (“Only an 8-iron,” LaCava said, “but a beautiful shot, because he had to hit it hard and draw it.”) There were some crisp little wedge shots, like the ones he hit Sunday into 13, where his ball nearly danced into the hole, and 15 (a full wedge) and 16. There was the 4-iron he ripped into the par-5 14th on Saturday, and the beautiful, towering 3-iron into the par-5 18th to finish off that round. A day later, Padraig Harrington, who still thinks Woods has at least one more major win in him, still was raving about the shot. “An impressive strike,” said Harrington, who believes Woods is swinging the club the best he has in five years. He noted Woods’ ball speed of 159 mph on the iron strike. “There’s not many people who can do that in the world of golf.” At PNC, Woods said his plantar fasciitis has been “frustrating,” because he felt he was making some decent progress with his game after playing only nine official rounds in 2022 (in three majors, making the cut in two). He has been sleeping with his right foot in a boot, which sometimes rubs and cuts into his healthier leg. “The plantar fasciitis is no fun,” Woods said, “and now I get to truly recover and heal and progress forward on this because there’s so many good things that I’ve been able to do physically, be able to hit the golf ball and practice and do everything in a standstill … but I haven’t been able to get from Point A to Point B (walking). We’re obviously going to work on this.” Mark O’Meara, the Hall of Famer who took Woods under his wing when Woods turned pro and moved to Orlando as a TOUR rookie in 1996, said he was “blown away” that Woods showed up to the Masters last April, “let alone make the cut.” Playing Augusta was a huge bonus for Woods, whose biggest 2022 goal was to make it to The Open at St. Andrews in July. O’Meara was there, too, seated next to Woods at the exclusive dinner for past Open champions. “I know how much he wants it,” said O’Meara, who now lives in Las Vegas and doesn’t see much of Woods. He did receive a big hug when he and Woods saw each other on the practice grounds last week. “Anytime you want Tiger Woods to do something, just tell him he can’t do it. That’s usually when he does do it.” O’Meara admires Woods’ toughness with all that he has been through, but he did recall a funny story from Augusta years back. He and Woods were playing by themselves in a Tuesday practice round at Augusta National. Going up the fifth hole, Woods told O’Meara he had some news he hadn’t shared: he had a slight tear in his left Achilles tendon. O’Meara had to laugh. “I’m like, ‘Really? Tiger, I’m not a doctor, but I really believe if you had a slight tear in that Achilles tendon, you would not be walking up this fairway right now,’” O’Meara said. “And I’m not a betting man, and I didn’t bet that week, but I told him, ‘Because you said that to me, I’m going to bet that you’re going to win this week.’ “And you know what? He won the Masters that week. That’s just him.” Woods said 2022 was challenging in so many ways, yet also called it “one of the most rewarding years I’ve had in a while.” Up next for him is his 47th birthday on Dec. 30. Can he get back to the TOUR in 2023? Can he get to the majors to chase No. 16? LaCava said once the plantar fasciitis subsides, he could see Woods playing “five or six tournaments.” Right now, Woods would take that. And if, and when, he does return, one thing is certain. “He’s a guy that you can never doubt, or count out, or any of that stuff,” Matt Kuchar said. “I think I’ve been on the side of doubting or counting him out a couple of times, and was proven wrong multiple times already. “It’s so hard to say (what Woods will do). I know that there is nobody who works harder in trying to come back, and rehab. If there’s a chance – and you know there is a chance – then he is going to find it and try to do it. I think we will count on him being at majors until he’s not.”

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