Publicité

Tiger Woods brings even more momentum to his return

NASSAU, Bahamas — Forgot about what Tiger Woods could do, didn’t you?

Forgot how he could grab control of a leaderboard. Forgot how he could make a better shot than you could even imagine. Forgot how he could singlehandedly take down an entire tournament, nothing but him, his putter and that stare.

Woods started the first two days at the Hero World Challenge by hitting every realistic mark. Saturday, he got ridiculous.

With all the conditionals about this being an easy setup and a small field, the facts remain: Woods opened his third round with four birdies in the first five holes. After being nine strokes off the lead after the first day, by his fifth hole on Saturday he was just two strokes behind Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson atop the leaderboard.

[Tiger Woods: ‘Not quite there, but it’s coming’]

From his opening tee shot, a dead-bang bomb right down the middle of the fairway at the Albany Golf Club that led to a birdie, Woods appeared locked in, focused in a way he hasn’t appeared in years. He drained a six-footer on 4 with the kind of never-in-doubt authority that used to characterize his putts, following that with one of those chip-ins-from-the-bunker on 5 that most figured were now only on Golf Channel highlights. He followed a bogey at 6, his first above-par score in 24 holes, with a birdie on 7.

Tiger Woods stares down a drive on the first hole Saturday. (AP)
Tiger Woods stares down a drive on the first hole Saturday. (AP)

Let’s be realistic for a moment. Woods isn’t catching Matsuyama, Johnson, or any of the other horses atop the leaderboard; they’re playing the same setup he is, and their games are already finely-tuned machines. (Matsuyama deposited his second shot on the par-4 seventh straight in the cup to move to 17-under.) And it’s not like the Hero World Challenge presents the challenge of Augusta-level greens, let alone U.S. Open-level rough. Woods has work left to do if he’s going to do more than card a few birdies at a December Bahamas tournament.

Still, considering the fact that we figured there was a decent chance some body part on Woods would detonate and he wouldn’t even finish the tournament, what he’s done so far at the Hero World Challenge has been an unqualified success.

[Related: Tiger Woods wastes little time switching putters]

Back-to-back bogeys on the back nine soured his round a bit, but there is no question Woods is exceeding expectations so far. He drained a lengthy birdie putt on 17 to stop the bleeding. Through 54 holes, he’s carded 19 birdies in all against eight bogeys (or worse).

He sits at 8-under for the tournament, after a double bogey on 18, middle of the pack for this now 17-person field.

Tiger's back. (Getty Images)
Tiger’s back. (Getty Images)

Related golf coverage on Yahoo Sports: