Woods Vows To Fight Back After Bahamas Third Round Hero Set-Back.

8 years ago by Comments Off on Woods Vows To Fight Back After Bahamas Third Round Hero Set-Back.

Albany, Bahamas …

Tiger Woods absorbed the shock set-back of being floored on day three declaring he will be stronger for the experience heading to the final round of the Hero World Challenge.

What the golf skeptics predicted would unfold on day one slightly unfolded with Woods’ golf game being tested to the fullest in the very windy conditions and signing for a three-over par 75 for a four-under par tally on the Albany course.

It was not to the 14th hole Woods managed a first birdie in holing a 12-footer and delighting in taking off his cap and bowing to the crowd.

Woods also holed a 12-foot gem for birdie on 17 but only having undid a superb opening 36-holes with four bogeys in his opening seven holes to drop from contention in the elite 18-player field.

Woods had used three words ‘Up and Down’ to describe Thursday’s 69 and then after Friday’s 68 he described the round with one word ‘Successful”.

He summed-up day three: “It was just one of those days.

“It was a rough start and whatever I did right ended-up in a bad spot, and whatever I did wrong was really wrong.

“I just couldn’t get it turned around and it kept going the wrong way.

“But that’s just golf as you are always facing adversity and I was just frustrated I could not get it turned around and on the easier holes, and then to make my first birdie on hole 14 was that very good.”

Woods went to the tee embracing his two children, 10-year old Sam and eight-year old Charlie and wearing a bracelet his daughter had made.

Son Charlie was just four-years old when he emerged from the crowd to greet his father in capturing the 2013 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and Woods last win anywhere.

It has now been four years, three months and 29 days since young Charlie saw his father handed the spoils of a victory.

Now the former long-time World No. 1 has put himself in contention what would be also be a remarkable sixth Hero World Challenge success and his 107th pro career title.

The ‘W’, as Woods likes to call them, was looking decisively shaky when Woods bogeyed two of his opening three holes including missing a virtual ‘gimme’ on the par-5 third that he had birdied the first two days.

There was then calls from Woods of ‘Oh God! Get down Tiger’ when he missed the green right at four in managing a par ahead of dropping a third shot of his day at the par-5 sixth.

Then for a second time in six holes we heard Tiger yell ‘Bite, bite, bite’ in also missing the green at seven and playing another poor chip shot on route to a fourth bogey and drop to three-under.

Woods pared eight and nine but headed the back nine having hit just three of six fairways and managing only two greens in regulation.

He dropped to two-under with a bogey at 10 before a first delight of the day on 14.

In a 14-Major winning career Woods brought the par-5s of the worlds to their knees but over three days in the Bahamas he is just one-under for the 16 par-5s.

“Despite my day I feel good. I felt like I got some experience in and it is was nice to be a part of the fight again,” he said.

“It was good to get out there and fight against the golf course and fight against the guys, and I just have not done a lot of that these past few years.

“So even though it was not the score I wanted it helped mentally as I liked the test out there.

“Unfortunately, I just didn’t get it turned around.”

Woods heads to the final day sharing 10th place and 10 shots adrift of fellow American Charley Hoffman who added a day three 70 to move to 14-under par.

Two players – Open Champion Jordan Spieth (72) and  European No. 2 Justin Rose (71) – share second place on nine-under par.

Tommy Fleetwood, who gets married in the Bahamas on Tuesday, doubled the last in a score of 74, to drop from a share of second to tied fifth.

 



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