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02-26-2009, 01:43 AM
http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/columns/s...id=3932679
MARANA, Ariz. -- It was business as usual.
After 254 days away from the competitive scene, after nearly six months without hitting a golf ball, after enduring countless days of agony after reconstructive knee surgery, Tiger Woods returned Wednesday and it felt as though he'd never left.
To him and to us.
He knocked it stiff at the first hole for a birdie, did so again at the second for a conceded eagle and never looked back in his first-round encounter with Brendan Jones at the Accenture Match Play Championship.
A 3 and 2 victory over the overmatched Aussie seemed to be a foregone conclusion, and Woods had a relatively stress-free return to the PGA Tour at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.
"It felt like nothing changed," said Woods, who made a rock-star-like entrance to the first tee, where fans greeted him with "Welcome back" chants. "Walking down the fairway, and it felt like business as usual. Go out there, I thought I would be more nervous on that first tee, but when it comes right down to it. ⦠it just came back down to just playing the game again, and that felt good."
To summarize: He had not played a competitive round of golf since June 16, the day he defeated Rocco Mediate in a playoff to capture the U.S. Open, his 14th major championship and his 65th PGA Tour title.
An arthroscopic procedure two days after the Masters meant he could play no more tournaments before the Open, but unbeknownst to all but his inner circle, Woods played with two stress fractures in his left leg despite doctor's orders to shut it down.
He didn't -- and won anyway. Then had surgery to replace his anterior cruciate ligament, putting him out of action for the rest of the year and leaving the golf world to speculate on how quickly he would return to form.
"I thought it was very good," said Woods' coach, Hank Haney. "I'm always happy as long as he wins. I thought it was good. I'm always confident in Tiger, and I thought he did quite well."
If it all seems like rather ordinary stuff, perhaps that is what Woods wants at this point.
It has been quite the whirlwind of activity the past two weeks. The birth of his son, Charlie, occurred Feb. 8, and all the while he has been preparing to come back, saying it could have been even earlier had the baby situation not interceded.
Some 40,000 tickets were sold by the tournament in the wake of Woods' announcement that he would be playing this week, and his Tuesday practice round was a surreal scene, his first public golf shots in nearly nine months.
When his return to the tour finally began for real Wednesday -- after a brief delay so the Stewart Cink-Richard Sterne match could go extra holes -- hundreds of fans tried to follow in the hot desert, with grandstands filled along the way and spectators lining the ropes, shouting encouragement...........
MARANA, Ariz. -- It was business as usual.
After 254 days away from the competitive scene, after nearly six months without hitting a golf ball, after enduring countless days of agony after reconstructive knee surgery, Tiger Woods returned Wednesday and it felt as though he'd never left.
To him and to us.
He knocked it stiff at the first hole for a birdie, did so again at the second for a conceded eagle and never looked back in his first-round encounter with Brendan Jones at the Accenture Match Play Championship.
A 3 and 2 victory over the overmatched Aussie seemed to be a foregone conclusion, and Woods had a relatively stress-free return to the PGA Tour at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.
"It felt like nothing changed," said Woods, who made a rock-star-like entrance to the first tee, where fans greeted him with "Welcome back" chants. "Walking down the fairway, and it felt like business as usual. Go out there, I thought I would be more nervous on that first tee, but when it comes right down to it. ⦠it just came back down to just playing the game again, and that felt good."
To summarize: He had not played a competitive round of golf since June 16, the day he defeated Rocco Mediate in a playoff to capture the U.S. Open, his 14th major championship and his 65th PGA Tour title.
An arthroscopic procedure two days after the Masters meant he could play no more tournaments before the Open, but unbeknownst to all but his inner circle, Woods played with two stress fractures in his left leg despite doctor's orders to shut it down.
He didn't -- and won anyway. Then had surgery to replace his anterior cruciate ligament, putting him out of action for the rest of the year and leaving the golf world to speculate on how quickly he would return to form.
"I thought it was very good," said Woods' coach, Hank Haney. "I'm always happy as long as he wins. I thought it was good. I'm always confident in Tiger, and I thought he did quite well."
If it all seems like rather ordinary stuff, perhaps that is what Woods wants at this point.
It has been quite the whirlwind of activity the past two weeks. The birth of his son, Charlie, occurred Feb. 8, and all the while he has been preparing to come back, saying it could have been even earlier had the baby situation not interceded.
Some 40,000 tickets were sold by the tournament in the wake of Woods' announcement that he would be playing this week, and his Tuesday practice round was a surreal scene, his first public golf shots in nearly nine months.
When his return to the tour finally began for real Wednesday -- after a brief delay so the Stewart Cink-Richard Sterne match could go extra holes -- hundreds of fans tried to follow in the hot desert, with grandstands filled along the way and spectators lining the ropes, shouting encouragement...........
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02-26-2009, 09:10 PM
He followed this up with a loss today.
02-27-2009, 10:50 AM
lil dog Wrote:I am not a golf fan but I will watch tiger .The guy is the best at what he does!!
He transcends the sport, get's people to watch that would not normally watch. He has been the best thing for the sport in the last 25 years (maybe ever)
03-04-2009, 09:06 PM
good to see tiger back.
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