Tiger Woods Opens With 75 at Hero World Challenge After Poor Finish, 'Mentally, I Was Really Rusty'

The tournament host said he was sore after Thursday's round but was more disappointed with a closing stretch that left him 3 over par.

NASSAU, Bahamas — There were flashes of the old brilliance, along with plenty of signs that not everything is going to go smoothly, either.

But Tiger Woods played his first competitive round of golf since the Masters—and more importantly, since significant ankle surgery—and looked pretty good doing so.

The 75 on the scorecard was unpleasant, as were some of the mistakes he made down the stretch at Albany Golf Club, where Woods is host of the Hero World Challenge. He is eight shots back of tournament co-leaders Brian Harman and Tony Finau, and ahead of just two players in the 20-man field.

Tiger Woods shot 75 in his first competitive round since the Masters in April :: Fernando Llano/AP

But this week and this event are really not about any of that. Woods was back playing golf against an elite field, and this is an opportunity to see where he is—and how far he has to go.

"I wanted to compete, I wanted to play," said Woods, who had a subtalar fusion on his right ankle in two weeks after the Masters. “I felt like I was ready to compete and play. I hit it solid most of the day. I just didn't mentally do the things I normally would do and I need to do.

“I still hit it solid, but I hit it crooked. I've always had a knack of hitting the ball in the middle of the face, but I need to do a better job where I need to hit it in my windows."

The 15-time major champion hit just six of 13 fairways on what is considered a pretty wide-open course. He hit 10 of 18 greens in regulation and needed 30 putts.

Through 14 holes, he was in good shape at 1 under par for his round—he was never worse than even, never better than 1 under—but ran into trouble on the easiest hole on the course.

At the par-5 15th, Woods hit a wayward drive to the left that came to rest near a bush. He considered taking an unplayable but elected to hit the shot, moving it only a few inches. From there, he chipped backwards, then had a fairway wood shot to the green four his fourth.

Relatable. pic.twitter.com/K8JqO39R8W

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 30, 2023

After chipping on, he two-putted for a double-bogey 7 and played the par-5s in 1 over par.

He lost tee shots to the right at the 16th and 17th holes, leading to bogeys, before a par at the 18th hole.

"I got off to a decent start," Woods said. “I didn't play the par-5s particularly well all day. I had really a lack of commitment through most of the middle part of my round and finishing. I just didn't quite commit to what I was doing and feeling. You take it for granted when you're playing all the time.

“O.K., the wind, it's coming up, move the ball back, you just kind of lean on it just a little bit, just flight it down a little bit, add a couple yards in. Instead of reacting to it, I was thinking about doing it. Then as I was thinking about it, should I do this or not, by then I'm pulling the trigger. I shouldn't really pull the trigger. Hit a bad shot. I kept doing it time and time again. It was a lack of commitment to what I was doing and feeling. I've got to do a better job of it."

Perhaps more important is Woods’s ability to walk the course. In the five previous tournaments he’s played since returning from the February 2021 car crash that saw significant injuries to his lower right leg, ankle and foot, Woods walked with a pronounced limp that saw him typically labor a bit more as the rounds unfolded.

Woods appeared to walk better during his nine holes of the pro-am on Wednesday and also during Thursday’s 18 holes than at any time since returning.

"I'm sore, there's no doubt about that," Woods said. “We've got some work to do tonight ... tomorrow get back in the gym and activate and get ready for it. Hopefully hit some better shots. And now I know mentally what I need to do better. I think that's something that physically I knew I was going to be O.K. Mentally, I was really rusty and made a lot of errors in the mind that normally I don't make."

Woods will play the second round at 11:02 a.m. on Friday with Rickie Fowler.