Tiger Woods prepares to enter a different world at the Memorial

Tiger Woods will get his first look at golf’s ‘new normal’ this week at Muirfield Village

The golfing world got a glimpse at a welcome sight on Tuesday morning. There was Tiger Woods, clad in a black polo shirt, strolling down the fairway with Justin Thomas at the friendly and familiar confines of Muirfield Village.

By the time Woods tees off in the first round of the Memorial Tournament on Thursday, it will have been 151 days—exactly five months—since he last played a competitive round on the PGA Tour. He’s doing it at a course he’s had plenty of success at in the past. In 17 previous appearances at the Memorial, Woods has five wins, nine top-10s, and zero missed cuts.

His dominance at Muirfield Village is unparalleled. Between 1999-2009, he shot under-par in 30 of his 36 rounds here, with a cumulative score of 111-under. In 2012, his last victory, he was more than half-a-stroke better than the rest of the field in strokes gained: tee to green. He’s won Jack Nicklaus’ tournament in three different decades and would join Sam Snead as the only golfers to win the same event in four decades with a victory this week.

The venue is familiar to him. The environment in which he will compete this week, though, is not. The world has changed dramatically since mid-February when Woods last played. There won’t be any fans this week or at any other tournament the rest of the season. The number of people Woods can travel with is limited. He can’t even go work out at a gym anymore.

Woods has yet to play during the tour’s ‘Return to Golf,’ but he has discussed what it’s going to be like with other players. “The guys have said, more than anything, it’s not really the trampled-down lies or anything like that, it’s just the energy is different,” he said at his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “There’s nothing to feed off of. You make a big putt, you make a big par, you make a big chip or hit a hell of a shot, there’s no one there, and that’s one of the more interesting things that it will be going forward.”

He’s played before without any fans in the gallery. The third round of the AT&T National in 2012 was held without spectators after a storm knocked down several trees on the course. Again, last October at the Zozo Championship in Japan, no fans were allowed on the course during the second round following a typhoon. Woods ended up winning both events.

But it’s still something he’s not used to. For his entire career, even dating back to his college and junior days, Woods has been the most photographed and scrutinized golfer in the world. Not having cameras and eyeballs pointed toward him is something that’s going to take an adjustment.

“I’ve had cameras since I turned pro, so it’s been 20 odd some years that virtually all of my shots I’ve ever hit on the tour have been documented,” he said. “So that is something I’ve been accustomed to, something that I have known for decades. But this is a different world, one we have to get used to.”

Woods spent his five-month layoff playing practice rounds at Medalist near his home in Florida, competing against his kids in tennis matches, and reading Dean Koontz novels. He watched the memorable duel between Collin Morikawa and Thomas last Sunday on his computer at home, just to see what a course he knows every inch of looks like without fans. It was startling.

“I’ve been there when they’re throwing drinks toward the green, high-fiving, people running around, running through bunkers. That’s all gone. That’s our new reality that we’re facing,” he said. “It’s so different not having the energy of the crowd. Watching at home as a spectator, one that has played this golf course and heard the energy that the fans bring to these holes and these situations, not to have that, it’s very different. Very stark, really.”

The Memorial will be a chance for Woods to move past Snead with his 83rd career victory. That the record-breaking victory would come at Jack’s place would be fitting, since their careers intersected so much. Nicklaus played his last U.S. Open in 2000, the same year Woods won at Pebble Beach by 15 shots. His last Masters came in 2005; again Woods won, this time in a playoff. Woods won each of the four times Nicklaus said goodbye to a major championship.

But there won’t be the traditional handshake with Nicklaus behind the 18th green. There won’t be the massive throng of fans chasing Woods down the last fairway, hoping to catch a glimpse at history. There would only be an eerie silence. For this is golf’s new normal, one Woods will get his first look at starting on Thursday.