Tiger Woods rolls back the years with sensational 65 in round two of comeback tournament at Hero World Challenge
Former world No1 put yesterday's shaky finish behind him with fantastic seven under-par round in Bahamas
TIGER WOODS rediscovered some of his old brilliance as he shot a superb seven under par 65 in the second round of the Hero World Challenge.
After letting a great start slip away in round one – his first competitive outing for 16 months following a third back operation – Woods, 41 later this month, was in no mood to repeat that mistake.
He again played the front nine in three under par, just as he did on day one, when a series of wild shots saw him stumble to a one over par 73.
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But this time the former world No 1 kept the birdies flowing – four more followed on the back nine, and some short game magic helped him keep a bogey off his card.
It was powerful evidence that despite his injury problems – and an eight year drought without adding to his 14 Majors – it may be too soon to dismiss Woods as a real force in the game.
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He beamed: “It feels good, I had it going through eight holes yesterday, but lost it and finished over par. Today was different. I turned it around and kept the momentum going. I moved myself nicely up the leaderboard.”
Justin Rose, who was due to partner Woods in the first group out, withdrew because of a back injury, effectively relegating the tournament host to last place in the elite 17 man field.
But he started to improve his position with a birdie on the opening hole, and he added two more on the sixth and ninth holes.
The par five ninth was where things started to go pear-shaped in round one. Woods took a six, and adding another bogey on the long eleventh, before slumping to double bogeys at 16 and 18.
This time Woods added another birdie at 11, and played the tough closing holes in level par – but only after hacking out of a bush on the 16th, and then draining along putt for par.
He conjured up another brilliant escape on the eighth, and was clearly just as happy with his par saves as some of his birdies.
He added: “Those par saves were so important to keep the momentum going. And I played those two par fives in two under par - and that’s a four shots improvement right there.”