AVIDGOLFER

Yes, Brandel Chamblee Gave Tiger’s Return High Marks

Rick Arnett /

Much anticipation, concern, hope, curiosity and breathless hype swirled around Tiger Woods returning to competitive play yesterday at his Hero World Challenge. Would he break 80? Would he finish 18 holes without a painful WD? Could he really hit it as far as his peers said the past two weeks? Could he chip?

Well, after one round (his first competitive one in 301 days), several questions were answered.

“It was not only nice to get the first round out of the way, but also I’m only three shots out of the lead,” said Woods, who hit seven fairways, 12 greens and needed 28 putts. “So to be able to put myself there after not playing for — is it 10 months or so? — in the neighborhood of that, it was nice to feel the adrenaline out there.”

“I was very thankful this morning,” he said. “I was in my head thanking all the people who have helped me in giving me a chance to come back and play this round again.

“There were a lot of people that were instrumental in my life; friends, outside people I’ve never met before, obviously my surgeon.”

  • Yes, he can still bash the rock. A couple of his ball speed measurements nearly hit 180mph. That’s some serious movement as only 14 players averaged 180mph or higher on Tour last year. Impressive to say the least as he even out drove long bombing playing partner Justin Thomas on several holes.
  • Oh, and there was this missile 2-iron from 260-yards out.

“(After that 2-iron) I knew I was back playing again,” Woods said. ” My swing last year in comparison felt like I was swinging in slow motion.”

  • A couple of chips showed some rust as he chunked two hitting against damp Bermuda grass grain. He saved par on one and bogeyed the other.
  • His 69 (-3) was four shots better than last year’s opening round at the Hero and is only three behind leader Tommy Fleetwood.
  • Woods’ par-5 scores were surprising as he finished +1 on the course’s five par-5s.

GolfChannel’s lightning rod analyst Brandel Chamblee gave Tiger 10 thumbs up.

“If you’ve been asleep for the last eight years and you woke up and the last time you saw Tiger Woods play was in 2009 you’d think, ‘what’s the big deal? That’s exactly the same guy,’” Chamblee said.

“This was far better than I expected. I gave him an A. Only reason I didn’t give him an A-plus, he didn’t chip the ball particularly well. But this is the best I’ve seen him swing since before all the injuries and before all that stuff that everybody would rather really not want to talk about.”

“His ball speed on one shot was 178 miles an hour, another shot was 180,” Chamblee said. “That’s about a 96 mile-an-hour fastball. That is big league stuff. The last time Tiger played, his clubhead speed was 114 miles an hour. That basically translates to a 10, 12 [mph] difference in ball speed.

“This is Tiger Woods feeling good, swinging good. It was visible. You didn’t have to wait very long. You saw the tee shot on number one.”

“The jigsaw puzzle’s out there on the table, right?” Chamblee said. “Really, it’s put together. It’s just that one piece that is missing. It is the short game. That’s where he was dazzling. He was far from dazzling today. To be fair, yes, these are very grainy surrounds and they are wet. But I really only saw one other player chunk a chip today.”

Broadcast partner Frank Nobilo agrees…

“The talk was his back,” Nobilo said. “Well, he’s back. At least his back looks fine, which is the big thing. If you’re unhealthy, you cannot swing, you cannot play, you cannot compete. If he really is and looks like he did today on a more regular basis, well of a sudden, shooting 69, he can certainly compete.”

It’s certainly a promising glimpse into Tiger’s current game and health. He’ll tee off at 10:43 CST alongside Henrik Stenson. I’ll be most interested if his back and overall conditioning will allow playing and walking 72 holes in 4 days.

 

Brandel Chamblee Frank Nobilo Justin Thomas Tiger Woods