Tiger Woods return after long absence set for a rough patch

The world’s 898th ranked golfer, Tiger Woods is back! At least for now. Woods, who has been away from competitive golf for over 460 days, returned to action at his own event, the Hero World Challenge at the Albany Golf Club.

And although this event is an ‘unofficial’ but PGA Tour-sanctioned event run by the Tiger Woods Foundation, inviting only 18 golf professionals to play with no risk of a cut, Wood’s performance was still highly rated.

Woods finished 15th, not exactly brilliant, but exciting enough to get tongues wagging and toying with the idea of a Woods comeback at last!

This performance improved his ranking on the Official World Golf Ranking to 650th. A long way from the number one slot he held for a total of 683 weeks.

Will Woods ever win again? Will he ever win a Major Championship again? Well that remains to be seen as the US PGA Tour kicks off in earnest. Woods is not eligible to play in the Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, that event only admits champions from the previous season; and it has been many seasons since Woods took home a trophy.

The Sony Open in Hawaii is the PGA Tour’s first full field event and it is still unclear as to whether Woods will tee it up there or at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, California.

Woods has been victorious at this event a record seven times – 1999, 2003, 2005-8 and 2013. On his way to the 1999 victory, Woods posted a course record 62 gross on the Torrey Pines South Course.

Woods will be eyeing his favourite Major, the Masters Tournament at Augusta; played in April, Woods has won the Masters four times, the latest victory coming in 2005, a lifetime ago.

However, with 14 Majors to his name, Woods will be closely watched at Augusta and all consequent Majors he plays in.

But winning again for Woods will not be a walk in the park. The likes of world number one, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson and Jordan Spieth, who form the top five in the world, will make Wood’s return most uncomfortable.

Johnson won his first Major this year at the US Open, as did Danny Willett at the Masters, Henrik Stenson at the Open Championship and Jimmy Walker at the PGA Championship.

In short, each of the 2016 Majors were won by players winning a Major for their first time. Spieth won the Masters and US Open in 2015 and McIlroy won the Open and PGA Championship in 2014.

McIlroy also won the US Open in 2011. Victory at the 2017 Masters would give him the much coveted career grand slam.

The last African to win a Major was Ernie Els at the 2012 Open Championship; before that, Louis Oosthuizen had destroyed the field at the 2010 Open Championship played at the Old Course at the R&A.

Trevor Immelman was victorious at the 2008 Masters Tournament, just eight years after his Kenya Open victory right here in Kenya.

Wood’s last Major victory was the 2008 US Open, where he needed an extra 19 holes to beat Rocco Mediate in one of the most epic golf playoffs ever.

As the world watches and wishes, the return of Woods can only be good for golf; ticket sales will increase, TV rights will go through the rough every time he plays and Woods will once more give golf the showmanship it deserves.