“Two good shots — three — came off exactly
how I wanted,” Woods said.
The fact he could play alongside
12-year-old son Charlie was enough of a success considering the injuries to his
right leg from a car crash 10 months ago in Los Angeles. Woods has said doctors
discussed amputation. For three months, he said he was immobilized in a
makeshift hospital bed at his home in Florida.
He and Charlie combined for a 62 in the
scramble format, tied for fifth, three shots behind Stewart and Reagan Cink.
What he got out of this remarkable return
had more to do with camaraderie than competition.
“We had so much fun out there,” Woods.
One of those shots that stood out to Woods
was on the par-5 third hole, where he hit 4-iron from 220 yards that drew
slight back toward the flag and settled 8 feet behind the hole. That was shot
he saw in his head and then in the air.
“That was just ridiculous,” Justin Thomas
said. “I looked at him and as soon as he sat in the cart, he just kind of
looked at me and smiled. And I knew exactly that’s the kind of shots that he
hits when he’s healthy.”
Woods is healthy enough to play the PNC
Championship, a popular year-end event for major champions and a family member.
He’s just not healthy enough to be a regular golfer.
“I don’t have endurance. I haven’t played,”
said Woods, whose last competition was the PNC Championship a year ago when he
and his son finished seventh against a 20-team field.
“It’s tiring out there, so it was a slow
day. But that’s something that I’m going to have to — if I want to compete out
here at the tour level — I’m going to have to get the endurance back and hit
thousands upon thousands of golf balls. Just takes time.”
Woods also mentioned the fairway metal he
hit onto the green at the par-5 14th, and a 7-iron he smoked into the par-3
17th, unsure he could get there.
“It was one of my old shots,” Woods said.
Thomas would have picked another shot. He
was determined that Woods, who turns 46 at the end of the month and still walks
gingerly from the broken bones in right leg and ankle, not hit a drive past
him. That changed on the 11th hole.
“I hit it pretty good and as soon as his
ball took that big bounce we looked at each other and I was like, ‘If it’s
going to happen, it’s going to be this one because I think it just launched.’
And yeah, that was a shot to the ego,” Thomas said with a grin.
Woods showed the effects of his injuries in
the way he walked, labored at times. The toughest walk belonged to Mike Thomas,
the 62-year-old club professional with a bulging disk in his back that had been
grimacing often.
“Definitely calling it a success both my
dad and Tiger made it 18 holes,” Justin Thomas said.
The competitive side in Woods showed in how
proud he was that his team managed to keep bogeys off their card for a third
consecutive 62 at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando.
Thomas and his father shot 60 and were one
shot behind along with John Daly and his son. Vijay Singh and his son were
another behind. Woods and son were among six teams at 62, which included the
oldest player (Gary Player at 86) and youngest player (Karl Stenson, the 11-year-old
son of Henrik Stenson) in the field.
But this network TV show was all about
Woods, the biggest attraction in sport, especially now when scenes and reports
from his Feb. 23 car crash made it appear it would be a long time, if ever,
that he could play at any tournament.
“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Nick Faldo
said. “To go from fearing that you can’t use your foot to standing, he’s gone
through every stage and ticking every box with sheer hard work and amazing
determination. Maybe this was a goal. This was a great goal for him to come and
play with his boy.”
The tournament was a sellout, limited to
about 3,000 spectators, most of them chasing around Woods and his son, who
delivered his share of good shots. Just like last year, Woods didn’t bother hitting
drives on the seventh and ninth holes because Charlie plays from a forward set
of tees and pops it out there with plenty of distance.
“I was hoping that Charlie would drive it
as well as he did today so I didn’t have to hit as many, save me for the short
shots,” Woods said. “I can still hit short irons and I can still putt. That has
not left me. The speed and some of the shots — the longer stuff — has.”
The toughest part for Woods was being in a
cart, which was necessary for him play. Woods had said he would never consider
applying to use a cart in a PGA Tour event; if that was the only way to play,
then he wouldn’t.
“In terms of hitting shots, he’s not that
far away,” Thomas said. “But in terms of being able to compete and walk 72
holes multiple weeks in a row, yeah, that’s a different story and he’s the only
one who can answer that.”
For Woods, this was fun golf, not the real
thing. For now, it was good enough. -AP