Tiger Woods was at Albany, the site of this week’s Hero World Challenge on Sunday preparing for his return once again to competitive golf.
According to those on the grounds, Woods played 18 holes in just over 2 hours, zipping around the course in a golf cart.
“I haven’t really competed in two years, really. I haven’t really done much. I’m looking forward to competing again and finding the rhythm and the feel of playing tournament golf and just hitting shots,” Woods said. “I haven’t really had a scorecard in my hand in a while and that’s going to be different.”
It has been a rough two years and a particularly bad 2017 for Woods. Back in February Tiger withdrew from the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic with back spasms and hasn’t played since. After another back procedure, Woods played a casual round on Friday with Dustin Johnson, Brad Faxon, and the President of the United States in Jupiter, Florida.
“[Johnson is] the No. 1 player in the world. He’s been playing, I haven’t been playing,” Woods said. “It’s nice to compare my game to some of the other guys, like Dustin or Rickie [Fowler] or Rory [McIlroy]. It’s nice to do something like that and compete and have a couple little denominations [a bet] we’re playing for. I like seeing where I’m at.”
Woods continues to state that for the first time in years he is completely pain-free when swinging the golf club.
“I am a little surprised,” Woods said. “The fact that I don’t have any pain in my lower back compared to what I was living with for years, it’s just remarkable.”