Tiger Woods ended a near eight-month competition absence showing a few signs of brilliance but overall, and as he later mentioned, there was also plenty of rust in his game on day one of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

Woods walked from the host Albany course after posting three birdies, five bogeys and a 15th hole double-bogey in his round of a three-over 75 to have him lying 18th in the elite $4.5m field of 20.

Tiger Woods ends a near 8-month competiton absence to post a three-over 75 on the opening day of the 2023 Hero World Challenge (Photo @PGATour)

It left him trailing eight shots behind the leading duo of Tony Finau and Open Champion Brian Harmon who signed for five-under 67s in bright and relatively calm conditions.

Woods got one of the more-anticipated rounds of golf this year underway with a pair of pars before a great birdie at the par-5 fifth hole however gave the shot back at the next before then proceeding to birdie five but drop one at the next.

Woods got one of the more-anticipated rounds of golf this year underway with a pair of pars before a great birdie at the par-5 fifth hole however gave the shot back at the next before then proceeding to birdie five but drop one at the next.  He then birdiesd five but also gave the shot back, at the par-5 sixth hole

If there was one example of Woods brilliance it was when he holed a 30-footer for birdie at the par-11th hole but only to also hand back the shot at the next.

Woods then got back to one-under with a birdie at 14.

On the flipside of his brilliance at 11, if there was one really rusty shot and it was Woods’ wild drive off the next hole, the par-5 15th when he ball landed well into bushes, from where he hacked it, only to walk off with double-bogey 7,

There was back-to-back bogeys on 16 and 17 and with Woods finishing with a par.

Woods round included hitting six of 13 fairways, 10 greens and taking 30 putts.

“Yeah, you know, I was pretty rusty”, Woods said.

“I got off to a decent start. I didn’t play the par 5s particularly well all day. I was telling Todd (Lewis – Golf Channel) over there I had really a lack of commitment through most of the middle part of my round and finishing.

“I just didn’t quite commit to what I was doing and feeling”.

As for how he feels?

“I’m sore, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve got some work to do tonight”, said Woods.

“Tomorrow get back in the gym and activate and get ready for it. Hopefully hit some better shots.

“And now I know mentally what I need to do better. I think that’s something that physically I knew I was going to be OK. Mentally, I was really rusty and made a lot of errors in the mind that normally I don’t make.

“As I said earlier this week, I was going to have to have this ankle either replaced or fused at some point. It just wore out and I was dealing with bone on bone for a number of months. I don’t have to worry about that anymore”.