J.B. Holmes was the real hero today in the Bahamas but of course it was Tiger Woods we all tuned in to see.
Holmes leads the elite field at the Hero World Challenge after a smoking 8 under 64 which included seven birds an eagle and a lone bogey at the opening hole. An impressive display of late season golf for sure.
But it was Woods that was the “star” of the show.
Woods gave us a bit of everything, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Playing with a new Bridgestone ball, new TaylorMade woods and an old friend – his Scotty Cameron putter – Woods had moments of brilliance interspersed with disaster.
Tiger started off well on the front nine with three laser-like iron approaches stuck close to the pins that gave him great looks at birdies.
After a birdie at the second Woods found his groove and still playing his “old” Nike irons he looked to be in great form as he strung three birds together from the sixth through the eighth.
But at the ninth hole his fatal flaw of the day crept into his game. He pulled his drive left into a bush and barely could get it back to the fairway. A rare miss with his irons left him a short uphill chip that he promptly chunked. It brought to mind flashbacks of Woods struggling with his yips before his time off. But luckily, it was the only instance of that we saw.
We can’t say the same for his driver. Left, way left was the call from the tee when he missed his big dawg. It cost him a bogey at the eleventh when he found another bush and again on the sixteenth for a double bogey. And he finished it off by pulling his driver into the water on the left again on eighteen for another double bogey.
A pessimist might call Tiger’s day a failure, finishing 17th out of 18 players but there was plenty for Tiger to feel optimistic about.
The Scotty Cameron putter and his stroke was spot on. He made plenty of putts and more importantly didn’t miss any easy ones.
Nike may be out of the equipment business but Tiger’s old sticks are still working fine. His iron play was the strength of his game today.
His driver needs work, in a big way. But at least he has a very plausible explanation: he is experimenting with new shafts to find the right combination. So he and TaylorMade need to go back to the range.
But all in all, Tiger struck the ball well, had plenty of distance and had no physical issues at all.
And playing healthy has to be the big takeaway from day one.
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