- Tiger Woods carded a one-under round of 71 to sit at even-par for the week
- The 15-time major winner is continuing to make his competitive comeback
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Tiger Woods bounced back from a shaky start to card a one-under 71 during his third round of the Hero World Challenge Saturday.
The 47-year-old was continuing his competitive comeback at the Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas stumbled out of the gate before finding his footing with four of his five birdies on the front nine.
After opening with a 75 and a 70 at his tournament, Woods bogeyed the first two holes on Saturday before turning his fortunes around on the third hole. He birdied that hole as well as the sixth, eighth and ninth.
Woods answered a bogey on No. 11 with a birdie on No. 14. He bogeyed the par-4 No. 18 to drop to even par for the tournament.
The 15-time major champion is the tournament host and a five-time winner of the event, most recently in 2011.
Tiger Woods bounced back from a shaky start to card a one-under 71 during his third round
The 47-year-old was continuing his competitive comeback at the Hero World Challenge
Leader World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler held a three-stroke advantage at 16-under par ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick.
Woods is playing in his first tournament since withdrawing from the Masters in April. He’s using this week as a ‘beta test’ to see what he needs to do to be able to compete over 72 holes across four days.
‘My game feels rusty,’ Woods admitted. ‘I haven’t played in a while and I have my subtalar fused, and so I’m excited to compete and play.
‘I’m just as curious as all of you are to see what happens because I haven’t done it in a while, and I can tell you this, I don’t have any of the pain that I had at Augusta or pre-that in my ankle. Other parts are taking the brunt of the load, so I’m a little bit more sore in other areas, but the ankle’s good. So that surgery was a success.’
The 15-time major winner bogeyed the first two holes Saturday before turning his game around
He revealed during his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday that he is targeting up to 12 tournaments next year.
‘I think the best scenario would be maybe a tournament a month,’ he said. ‘I think that’s realistic. You would have to start maybe with the Genesis [in February], then something in March, maybe The Players. But we have a setup right now where the biggest events are one per month, so it sets itself up for that.
‘Now, I need to get myself ready for all of that, I think this week is a big step in that direction.’
His plan for 2024 is a stark contrast to the admission Woods made last year when he confessed that he likely would only be able to compete in the majors plus one or two more tournaments.