No one is going declare Tiger Woods "back" after two rounds in a limited-field event in December, but his work Friday was enough to inspire a bit of optimism about what lies ahead.
Rolling through the Hero World Challenge course in the Bahamas as he teed off first and played by himself after Justin Rose had to withdraw with back pain, Woods corrected several mistakes from Thursday's opening round and shot a 7-under 65 on the day. The bogey-free round moved him to 6 under overall and was a welcome bounceback after a second-nine collapse led to an opening 73.
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While Woods' front nine matched his 33 from Thursday, he was more consistent this time through. He birdied the ninth after taking a bogey there the day before, and would repeat that two-shot swing on No. 11. That birdie kicked off a run of four in five holes, which he played in four fewer strokes than he had Thursday.
"Yesterday I had it going through eight holes and I lost it and finished over par," Woods told Golf Channel. "Today was different, I turned the two par-5s into under par and that’s four shots right there. Consequently I was able to play the middle part of the round better, turned it around, kept the momentum going, and I moved myself up the board."
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But the closing holes that derailed him the previous day were still to come, and the surest sign of Woods' blossoming confidence came at 16. A day after he double-bogeyed the hole, he saw his first two shots end up in the sand — his tee shot on a slope behind a bush. But Woods managed to roll in a 20-foot putt to save par and turned loose a fist pump that, if not quite Vintage Tiger, was certainly well-earned.
Tiger being Tiger. This is fun.#QuickHits https://t.co/kqZwjckF2C
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 2, 2016
That left 18, where he splashed his tee shot Thursday but found the middle of the fairway Friday. A long birdie effort from off the green didn't miss by much, and he dropped the par putt with a wave to the crowd and a smile as he walked off.
