Tiger Woods suffers comeback nightmare as he double-bogeys two of his three final holes to end Day 1 of the Hero World Challenge
Former world No1 finishes disappointing one over par after glittering start fired him into share of lead
TIGER WOODS was left to dwell on what might have been after he failed to make the most of an explosive start blew up in his face.
Woods was playing his first competitive round for nearly 16 months at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, and there were no signs of rust as a brilliant hat-trick of birdies from the sixth took him into a share of the lead at four under par.
But two double bogeys in his final three holes undid that sizzling start, and Woods eventually had to settle for a one over par 73.
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There were still plenty of positive signs from the former world No 1. He was clearly nervous, and it looked as if he was playing within himself at first to avoid aggravating the back injury that has required three bouts of surgery.
He should probably have stuck to that approach – it was only when Woods decided to have a real rip that things unravelled.
There was a real buzz in the Bahamas early on as Woods acknowledged the cheers, and with two par fives in his next three holes his supporters were sensing something special.
But Woods, who made mincement of the par fives in his heyday, made a hash of them this time. Two poor drives sending him tumbling to a pair of bogey sixes.
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He did manage to birdie the last long hole - the 15th – but only after missing a seven footer for eagle – and a scrappy double bogey at the 16th dropped him back to one under par.
And there was one final blow to come, as the former world No 1 hooked his tee shot at the 18th into the water.
That led to another double, and Woods trudged off with his shoulders slumped, realising he had wasted a real chance to make a statement about the state of his game.
Woods admitted he let things slip, saying: “When you look at those last ten holes I was in three bushes and had a water ball, so yeah, it could have been a lot better.
“If you drive the ball great on this course you can really rip it apart –but if you are not on the money off the tee, you can find a whole lot of trouble.
“But I was encouraged by how quickly I got back into the competitive flow of things. I felt pretty comfortable after just two holes and I’m really looking forward to these next three rounds."
Woods finished nine shots adrift of first round leader J.B.Holmes, who opened with a superb eight under par 64.