FULL Breakdown Of Tiger Woods' First Round Back (he shot, lol, 69)
Folks, we back! We are absolutely back. After 4 back surgeries and an arsenal of other issues of which we will not here discuss, Tiger Woods is back. First competitive round since February today, and just his eighth since August 2015, and he looked fucking GOOD.
Let’s get to it.
First Tee
Much, much chatter about the first tee. It’s one thing for your swing to look good on the range or in practice rounds; it’s another to look good and to hold up under the gun.
He’d then hit a solid wedge from 99 yards to 15 feet or so, barely miss the birdie look, and tap in for par. Solid start.
“Oh be good”
After a solid iron on 2 and an easy par, Tiger came to the par-5 third hole, roasted a drive past JT (who finished no. 8 in driving distance during his player of the year season last year), and had this 2-iron from 265.
CUM EVERYWHERE! Two putts, easy birdie, 1-under.
Chipping
The only dark spot today was Tiger’s action around the greens. He flubbed a chip on 4, a chip on 9, and hacked a pretty simple bunker shot on 7 about 20 feet past the pin. That’s not good — several times over the last few years he’s shown severe signs of the chipping yips.
Again, we first saw this on 4 and it was concerning. It was about as easy a chip as a Tiger Woods can have. He flubbed it, but then did what the old Tiger used to always do.
Fist Pump
But then he did this…
Took just 4 holes for our first fist pump. LOVE knowing he cares about this as much (prob more) than we do.
Putting
Tiger putted well today. His stroke looks great, confident, pure. He was flushing putts as much as you can flush putts. Here are the total stats.
27 putts
7/13 fairways
12/18 greens
And, to be honest, the stats were better than that. A few of those missed fairways were by a foot or two, and a few of those missed greens were just barely on fringes. He hit the ball great and putted the ball great.
He just couldn’t chip.
Front 9
He made a mess of 9 after two phenomenal swings — a piped driver, and a strung 3-wood from 285 — to turn in 35. All things considered, VERY solid.
Back 9
Bounce back is a HUGE quality at the top level, and Tiger bounced back from a shitty bogey on 9 with a solid birdie on 10 followed by back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14 to threaten the lead.
Unfortunately he made his worst swing of the day on 15 tee, having to take an unplayable from the bushes, and made bogey from there. Actually played the par-5s at 1-over, but finished up by pouring in a 5-footer after a suitable little chip on 18.
69
Leaderboard
Takeaways
Look, a few months ago we weren’t sure Tiger would ever play golf again. He felt as likely to retire as to ever post another golf swing. He was walking around the Presidents Cup like Master Yoda — a grandfather figure present only for guidance or mentoring, not for performing.
Today he went out against 8 of the top-10 players in the world and ran right with the pack. Incredibly impressive. His swing was free, consistent, and fast. His demeanor was healthy. His putting was pure.
Sure, his short game sucked, but there’s going to be rust. Gotta have faith that perhaps the greatest player of all time can sort that out.
All things considered, today was a MASSIVE success for Tiger Woods. If he maintains this level of healthiness and carries this good of a golf swing, he will ABSOLUTELY compete and win golf tournaments in 2018. There is zero doubt.
Thankfulness
It’s thankfulness SZN folks, and Tiger had some telling comments after the round. He’s very thankful to be back, which tells me he’s got a more wholesome outlook on things.
Branding #MSGA
Tiger tees it up back up at 11:43 AM tomorrow. If you’re not excited about how things went today, then fuck you. Seriously, fuck you.
The hype is real.
#MSGA