Written Dennis Manoloff at Cleveland.com
The Hero World Challenge field of 18 includes Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson and Jimmy Walker, each of whom won his first major in 2016.
Multiple major winners Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson also are competing.
And so is a 14-time major champion named Woods. Tiger Woods. You might have heard of him.
The Hero World Challenge, which unfolds this week in the Bahamas, marks Woods’ much-much-anticipated return to competitive golf. Woods, 40, has not played in an event that mattered since finishing tied for 10th at the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship in August 2015.
| RSM Classic (PGA) | ||||
| Pos | Name | Score | Thru | |
| 1 | M. Hughes – z | -17 | F | |
| 2t | B. Barber – y | -17 | F | |
| 2t | B. Horschel – y | -17 | F | |
| 2t | H. Norlander – y | -17 | F | |
| 2t | C. Villegas – y | -17 | F | |
| 6t | J. Furyk | -14 | F | |
| 6t | J. Lovemark | -14 | F | |
| 6t | C. Pan | -14 | F | |
| 6t | O. Schniederjans | -14 | F | |
| 10t | S. Cink | -13 | F | |
| View Full Leaderboard | ||||
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z = Won in Playoff y = Lost in Playoff
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Can’t wait to get back out there and mix it up with the boys. –TW #heroworldchallenge
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) December 1, 2016
The HWC is sanctioned by the PGA Tour but not an official event. The winner does not get credit for a PGA Tour victory, and the field’s earnings only matter at the bank. World ranking points are available, though.
Woods owns 79 official PGA Tour titles. He is host of the HWC, which he has won five times, most recently in 2011. Watson is defending champion, Spieth won in 2014 and Zach Johnson in 2013.
Woods, plagued by back issues for years and sidelined by multiple procedures/surgeries, had hoped to return at the PGA Tour Safeway Open in October. He decided that his game was not where it needed to be.
HERO WORLD CHALLENGE
Site: Nassau, Bahamas.
Course: Albany GC. Yardage: 7,267. Par: 72.
Purse: $3.5 million (First prize: $1 million).
Television: NBC Sports (Saturday, 2:30-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-4 p.m.); Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 1:30-4:30 p.m.; Saturday, noon-2:30 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.).
Defending champion: Bubba Watson.
Last week: Denmark won the World Cup of Golf behind Thorbjorn Olesen and Soren Kjeldsen.
Notes: Tiger Woods returns to competition for the first time since he tied for 10th in the Wyndham Championship on Aug. 23, 2015. … Woods was No. 257 in the world ranking after his last official tournament. He returns at No. 898. … Woods will be paired in the opening round with Patrick Reed. … The 18-man field includes four players who were in Australia last week for the World Cup of Golf: Hideki Matsuyama, Rickie Fowler, Jimmy Walker and Russell Knox.
