He’s back! This week sees the return of Tiger Woods following a four month layoff as a result of a back injury. Having only teed it up seven times in 2014, viewers will be interested to see how the 14-time major winner fares in his own tournament, The Hero World Challenge. Woods has won the event five times at Sherwood Country Club, but this year it will be played at his home course, Isleworth Golf and Country Club. He narrowly lost out to Zach Johnson in a playoff last year after the latter remarkably holed his fourth shot from the drop zone to force extra holes. However, this year we are presented with a completely different Tiger Woods.
Woods had an abysmal 2014, with a best finish of T25 at the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral. He also failed to make the top 125 of the FedEx Cup, thus missing out entirely on the end-of-season playoffs. Woods has made some radical changes during his off-season, replacing swing coach Sean Foley with the unproven 36-year-old Chris Como. This change has been brought about with the aim of building a swing that will prevent further injuries to Woods’ surgically repaired back and knees.
Approaching the age of 39, time is running out for Tiger to break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championship wins, and the signs are not good. No player has won more than three majors past the age of 39, something Woods must achieve in order to catch the Golden Bear. However those are long term goals. Woods’ short term goals must surely revolve around regaining full fitness and rediscovering some of the form that has seen him win 79 times on the PGA Tour. He has chosen the ideal tournament to restart his quest. Woods knows Isleworth as well as anyone, having been a member there for several years. There is no cut in this event as there are only 18 men in the field, so it is the perfect place for him to find some form ahead of what is a vital 2015 season.
Woods’ chances of winning this week are relatively slim given his recent lack of playing time and the stellar quality of the 18 man field, but Tiger is so unpredictable so don’t be surprised if he is hoisting the trophy above his head come Sunday. Players teeing it up this week are major champions (and past winners of the event) Graeme McDowell and Zach Johnson, as well as Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson to name a few. The quality of the field this week is sure to make for some very entertaining golf. However Tiger Woods’ return to the game is most definitely what is going to grab the media’s attention. A poor performance over 72 holes, and he could be written off for the rest of the season. If he were to come out on top or even place in the top five, don’t be surprised to hear cries of “Tiger is back!” from the media and public. Let’s not forget that this is just the first week of many in Tiger’s latest comeback from adversity, but one thing is for sure, it is definitely going to be one of the most interesting weeks for the game of golf in quite some time.
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