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Story highlights
Tiger Woods shoots a disappointing five-over 77 after four-month injury layoff
Woods down in last place 11 shots off lead held by Jordan Spieth
Former world No. 1 recently announced new swing coach Chris Como
Woods says new swing is "new, but old" and perhaps less physically taxing on body
In short, it wasn’t the return Tiger Woods had hoped for.
Making his first competitive outing since missing the cut at the U.S.PGA Championship in August, Woods posted a five-over par 77 in the first round at the Hero World Challenge at Florida’s Isleworth Golf and Country Club.
The 14-time major champion, who has struggled with a back injury all year, got off to the worst possible start with three bogeys and a double bogey in the opening nine holes.
A birdie – his only one of the day – came at the par four 12th hole, but was immediately canceled out at the next hole with a bogey six where, incredibly, he took three chips to get his ball onto the green.
“Today, it was weird, I didn’t feel like I hit it that bad,” Woods told reporters.
“My short game was awful, and I didn’t make anything. It certainly is surprising that I could hit chips that poorly. Just flubbed them,” he added.
“I felt comfortable on a lot of the chip shots this week as I was playing practice rounds off the tighter spots. But when it got a little grainier, just wasn’t as good as I needed it to be.”
Woods’ round left him lying in last place in the 18-man tournament, four shots off compatriots Patrick Reed and Billy Horschel who are tied for 16th and a distant 11 shots off first-round leader Jordan Spieth.
The attention surrounding Woods’ return has been heightened after he announced at the end of last month that he had hired Chris Como as his new swing “consultant.”
Como replaces coach Sean Foley, who parted ways with Woods in August after a four-year partnership that yielded eight victories but crucially no major titles.
With Como it could be a case of back to the future.
Woods said he was “excited” by what the 36-year-old, whose has previously coached South African Trevor Immelman, is bringing to his game.
“It is new, but it is old,” Woods said earlier this week.
“We looked at a lot of video from when I was a junior – even when I came out there and had some really nice years where I hit the ball really well. We went back to some of those old videos and really looked at it.
“And it was quite interesting to see where my swing was then and how much force I could generate with a very skinny frame. How did I do that? How do I generate that much power? That’s kind of what we are getting back into.
Woods hinted that the changes may already be taking effect.
“I don’t feel like I’m hitting it very hard. But it’s coming off the face faster,” he said.
According to Golf Digest, Como has been studying for a master’s degree in biomechanics at Texas Woman’s University, working under Dr. Young-Hoo Kwon.
Adopting a less stressful way of striking the ball could finally allow the 38-year-old to build up a competitive head of steam – his tour appearances have been increasingly sporadic in recent seasons.
Despite undergoing back surgery to rectify a pinched nerve in April, Woods has struggled to regain full fitness and has played just seven tournaments in all this year.
An acceptance of his physical restrictions that age brings about may also help Woods, once the longest hitter on tour.
“I can’t blow it out there with some of the longer guys any more. Back when I was younger a long ball was 290 [yards] in the air. That was a big ball. Now it’s 320, 325. That’s the new standard out here,” he told reporters earlier this week.
But he refuses to right off his chances of competing consistently at the highest level in the years ahead.
“You can win at a very late age because you don’t have to physically dominate anybody, you just have to beat the golf course,” he said earlier this week.
“And it is one of the reasons why you saw Sam Snead win at age 54, looked like Tom [Watson] was going to win the British Open at 59 and Greg [Norman] was part of the lead in the British Open when he was 54.
“I’m not quite 40 yet so I’ve still got some time.”
