Tiger Woods finished 15th in his comeback tournament, after another up and down round at the Hero World Challenge. Having played one stellar round of golf this week, Woods would have wanted to finish the tournament in the Bahamas on a high, but it was not to be.
The 14-time major winner shot a final round 76 to finish 15th in the 18-man field – Justin Rose had withdrawn from the tournament after the first round.
"Getting back to this point is beyond anything that I've ever experienced in my lifetime," Woods, whose first three rounds were 73, 65 and 70, said.
"The pain issues that I had, it was rough. To battle back, to battle through it, to have the friends I've had who have supported me, helped me through it. Quite frankly, there were some pretty dire times where I just couldn't move.
"Big picture? It feels good. It feels good to be back out here playing again, competing and trying to beat the best players in the world. I missed it. I love it. I've been doing it for a very long time and this stretch where I've been off for almost a year and a half has been rough and the last few years have been rough."
There were some rough times in his final round too, with Woods, having managed five birdies on Sunday, unfortunately offsetting that good play with three double bogeys and three bogeys.
The Hero World Challenge 2016 was won by the Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama, whose final round 73 was enough to win the title by two shots. Matsuyama finished with an 18-under 270, with Henrik Stenson, the British Open champion, coming in second, after a 272.
"It's going to give him a boatload of confidence going into next year and he's going to be one of the top guys to beat for a very long time," Woods said of the 24 year old Matsuyama.
"Look at his swing, look at his game and look at the body that he has, it's built for a workload and it's built to handle the test of time. He's going to be one of the players that we're going to have to beat for a long time."
Final standings of the Hero World Challenge HERE
