ALBANY, Bahamas – There’s one thing we can be certain of when it comes to Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf – the hype is insane. Having opened as a 100-1 shot to win next year’s Masters Woods dropped to 50-1 before competitive play this week at the Hero World Challenge, and was 25-1 after Round 1. Now the 79-time PGA TOUR winner has firmed to 15-1 after his second round 4-under 68 left him tied fifth and five shots off the lead just seven months after a fourth back surgery. All this from just two rounds of golf in an 18-man exhibition event on a relatively wide-open course. Honestly, discussion around the globe between golf fans is going a little something like this. I’ve combined the multiple arguments I heard on course and on social media into one fictional, but ultimately real, conversation. (Handles are fictional) @TigerWoodsFan79 – Oh my God!! Did you see Tiger today! He shot 31 on the front nine. He’s so back. He’s going to win three majors next year and the FedExCup! @GolfIsHard – Settle down buddy. It’s just one round. He shot 1-over on the back nine as well. He’s playing at an easy course against just 17 other players. @TigerWoodsFan79 – He shot 69 yesterday, 68 today and these 17 guys are some of the best in the world! He’s ahead of the FedExCup champion Justin Thomas among others. Plus, it’s really windy at Albany. @GolfIsHard – It hasn’t been THAT windy so far. And come on, those other guys have had really long seasons. Heck, they’ve started the new season. They’re tired. @TigerWoodsFan79 – Tired? Give me a break. They’ve had time off. And three of the guys above Tiger have been playing lately. Justin Rose has played all over the globe, Tommy Fleetwood also and Jordan Spieth just flew back from the Australian Open! They have momentum. Tiger has to deal with rust! @GolfIsHard – He’s rusty all right. He hasn’t won anything since 2013. @TigerWoodsFan79 – Well Tiger says he can win this week. I saw one media guy asked him if he could win and he said, “What do you think?â€� and he had that Tiger grin. @GolfIsHard – What’s he going to say? No? And I also saw he said this when asked about silly dummies like you who are claiming he’s already going to sweep the majors next year despite having a fused back. “I guess they’ve got to come up with some kind of story. I just wanted to go out there and just play, compete. I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t played, I hadn’t competed, I haven’t had a fused back before in my life.â€� In other words, he’s telling you to settle down. @TigerWoodsFan79 – I saw that comment also. And you’ve conveniently cut it off when he starts talking positively again. “These are all new things. As you can see that even with the fused back, I still have some speed out there and these are all things I’ve had to learn and will continue to learn. This is a new body that I’m getting used to.â€� @GolfIsHard – Yeah he might have some speed and power out there, I’ll give you that. But he still has hit only 16/26 fairways this week… and at Albany the fairways are 400 yards wide. @TigerWoodsFan79 – Now you’re being unfair. He barely missed most of those. And he was punished for it. Took an unplayable yesterday and had to lay up out of a footprint today. His driving has been awesome. @GolfIsHard – Well what about the chipping? He chunked a few of those yesterday. There are still some demons in there for sure. He can’t compete in a full field event on TOUR and get away with that. @TigerWoodsFan79 – His chipping was awesome today! He even chipped one from on the green, through the collar and almost holed it. Not one bad chip at all in Round 2. It was just rust on Thursday, plus it’s into the grain like he said and that’s hard for everyone. You stubbed three of those last weekend! @GolfIsHard – He had hammer hands on some of those putts today. He’s lucky he made some of the comebackers. And these greens are slow compared to some on TOUR. And Augusta… forget about it. @TigerWoodsFan79 – 11 putts on the front nine Friday. Only one 3-putt in two days. You’re starting to clutch at straws here. Tiger said the speed changed with the set up anyway: “I think it was successful because I went out there and shot 31 on the front nine. I built upon what I did yesterday, I cleaned it up. Only thing I really struggled with today was speed of the greens. Henrik and I were talking about it all day is that they seemed to be like a foot faster. I really did struggle getting the speed and I blew most of them well past the hole and made a few coming back. I also missed my share, too.â€� @GolfIsHard – Look. Let’s just see how he goes over the weekend and how he recovers. Four back surgeries are a lot. A fused back is intense. And we have to see him in a full field event, at a tough track like Torrey Pines with the rough. Remember he made a lot of birdies in the Bahamas last year… and once he got to Torrey it all went pear shaped. @TigerWoodsFan79 – No way! I’m all in this weekend. Tiger says he’s in it. The leaderboard proves he’s in it. Does this sound like a guy who is just going through the motions? “I felt like today I could have easily gotten to double digits under par. That would have put me probably one or two back, but I think I’m still in it. We’ve got two more days and I think it’s supposed to blow a little harder tomorrow. If that’s the case, I think a good solid round should get me up in there.â€� @GolfIsHard – I can see I’m not talking you off this ledge… And I guess you’re not alone. Even the leader Charley Hoffman wants Tiger to win! Crazy! The Hoff said this… for real! “To be completely honest with you, I said at the beginning of the week I hope he wins. It’s great for the game of golf.â€� @TigerWoodsFan79 – You see! Get on the Tiger train! Just imagine if he did win… @GolfIsHard – Okay… that would be pretty awesome… It would be his sixth Hero World Challenge win… but you wouldn’t be changing your handle again just yet as it’s unofficial. @TigerWoodsFan79 – I’ll take it! And Sam Snead’s 82 TOUR victory record is falling for sure. I know it. Heck, even Jack’s 18 majors is in the crosshairs again. @GolfIsHard – *Palm Hitting Face* *Shakes Head* Woods returns to action on Saturday at 12:53 p.m. ET and is paired with defending champion Hideki Matsuyama. Check out PGATOUR.COM and all PGA TOUR social channels for the action.
Click here to read the full article…
