Nassau, Bahamas ..
Tiger Woods was facing a three-hour cold tub ‘cool down’ period after posting his hottest score in 15 months with a sizzling 65 on day two of the Hero World Challlenge in the Bahamas.
Woods was soaked in sweat after superbly fighting his way back from a disappointing opening 73 to snatch the clubhouse lead at six under par in hot and humid conditions on the Albany course.
Woods, using the putter than earned him 13 of his 14 Majors, needed just 25 putts and in his best round since a similar second round 65 at the 2015 Wyndham Championship and his last PGA Tour event.
Tiger Woods with the first fist pump at the 2016 Hero World Challenge holing a 25-foot par putt at 16.
Woods, who played by himself given the withdrawal with a back injury of Justin Rose, singled out his second shot to just four feet at the first hole as the shot of his day, and in a round that included a further six birdies and not one bogey.
However, while the golf world delights in Woods effort after his 465-day lay-off he was not looking forward to the three hours post his round.
“Given the back operations I’ve had it’s now going to take me two to three hours working with my physio while cold tubs and ice are never fun but I’ve got to do it,” he said.
“But making two silly mistakes on two par fives yesterday I didn’t do that today and managed to turn it all around consequently the momentum and the feel of my round changed dramatically.
“That’s what you have to do and that’s how you win golf tournaments.
“But standing here now I feel a lot better now as it was nice to get that first round out of the way and to get back into the tournament today by making some of those birdie putt
After his birdie at the first, Woods proceeded to birdie the sixth, ninth, 11th, 12th and the 14th and 15th holes while he saved par with a great 28-foot putt at 16 that brought the first fist-putt of his two rounds.
Woods ended his round five minutes short of three hours.
And after the Cinderella comeback story turned sour a day earlier, Woods stressed the importance of producing the turnaround he did on day two.
“It was very important because I had not felt the competitive flow and the feel for around a year-and-a-half,” he said.
“Today I had that feel early right from the first tee shot as I felt very comfortable as I just pounded it down there to just 80-yards from the hole.
“I’ve made subtle changes here and there to my game including going back to look at stuff I was doing as a junior that I did naturally.
“When you think about it back then I looked like a sizeable 1-iron (smiling) and I could really move the ball and there were reasons for that, so I’ve tried to go back to a lot of those things and a lot of those feels and try to get into similar positions.
“Clearly, I can’t right now and I probably never will in being as loose and as Gumby-like when I was that young but there are things I can learn from that.”
