Tiger Woods: Hero World Challenge Round 2 Recap

Tiger Woods emerged from Round 1 of the Hero World Challenge healthy, and he looked a lot like his old self during Friday’s second round.

Tiger Woods is making his long-awaited return to the PGA Tour this week, at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. It’s a limited event, with just 18 players (17 now this year, with Justin Rose withdrawing Friday morning), but seeing Woods back on the golf course in competition is a good thing.

Woods played solidly during Thursday’s first round, but two double-bogies over the last three holes left him with a 73 (+1) for the day. Perhaps the most important thing is Woods emerged from the round healthy, if not optimistic, and he carried that into Friday’s second round.

Woods started very well on Friday, with two birdies (and no bogies) over the first six holes.

Woods finished the front nine with another birdie on the par-5 9th hole, and ESPN’s Jason Sobel compared his first nine holes on Friday to the same set of holes on Thursday.

Woods kept his momentum rolling on the back-nine, with four birdies over the first six holes to give himself a combined score of -4 for the day on the par-5s. Woods birdied No. 15 for the second straight day, but Sobel was sure to note what was coming.

But things got a little more interesting on the par-4 16th. Let’s go back to Sobel for his Twitter chronicle.

Woods registered uneventful pars on No. 17 and No. 18, to come in with a 32 and finish with a bogey free 65 (-7) on the day. He is at -6 for the tournament, which currently has him four shots behind leaders J.B. Holmes, Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama.

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Woods does not have to win this weekend for the week to be considered a success. But he can end the 2016 calendar year on a high note, and fully healthy to boot. Friday’s round shows he can recapture his vintage form at times, and hopefully Woods can carry that into the tougher major environments in 2017.