His fans are reassured, he too Tiger Woods is in much better shape than last year at the same time. We realized this during this entire Genesis Invitational, in Los Angeles, where he alternated between good and bad, after seven months of absence.
And where he showed above all that the hard work of rehabilitation, with his whole team, was beginning to bear fruit. Tiger Woods’ three outings in 2022, at the Masters (47th), at the PGA Championship (retirement after the 3rd round) and at St Andrews for The Open (missed cut), had been a repeated miracle, only one year after his accident car in Los Angeles.
Tiger Woods, results
The Tiger was injured, he was in pain, he was limping low, but he was there and the crowds flocked to admire his courage, his resilience, if not his shots or his scores. My game is fine, even if it is a little rusty.
I made a few silly mistakes here and there. But I hit the ball pretty well
We are in 2023 and everything has changed, well almost. Tiger Woods looks like a working golf player again, and while he winces at times, his game is getting back on track.
“My game is fine, even if it is a little rusty. Made a few silly mistakes here and there, struggled to adapt to the changing speed of the greens, day to day, but hit the ball pretty well,” said the former world number 1 after signing his last card of the week, a 73 on Sunday, much more encouraging than his 74 on Friday, when he almost missed the cut of his big comeback on the PGA Tour.
“You managed to do four laps in a row, in addition to the Pro-Am on Wednesday, how do you feel? asked the CBS reporter. “Succeeding in walking is really the main objective. And I really have to thank all my team, because they made sure, in the morning and in the evening, that I had a chance to hit the ball well, ”replied the Tiger, tired but visibly reassured, relieved, happy.
If we look at his figures this week on this Riviera Country Club course where he never won during his professional career, there are many reasons for encouragement. First there are these two excellent cards, a 69 Thursday, a 67 Saturday, hitting long drives, finding sensations with his irons, despite a few moments of absence in putting.
Despite all these small drawbacks, which can be explained by the lack of competition since July 2022 in Scotland, there have been birdies every day (4 Thursday, 2 Friday, 3 Saturday and another 3 Sunday), and even an eagle on Saturday on the 1, summit of a “moving day” which he managed to “electrify” as in his finest hours.
