NASSAU, Bahamas (Reuters) — Tiger Woods seemed upbeat and carefree and he took questions from reporters at the end of a Pro-Am tournament on Wednesday (November 30) in the Bahamas. Woods was asked if anything about his game surprised him.
“Surprised me? Not much. I felt good with pretty much everything. I was able to hit all the shots I needed to hit. The wind was definitely pumping to day and it was good to it in this direction since I’ve been here on Saturday it’s been blowing out in the other direction so it was good to see it our of this direction.”
Woods, who turns 41 next month and won the last of his 14 majors at the 2008 US Open, will make his comeback at this week’s Hero World Challenge in Nassau.
He has not played on the PGA Tour since August 2015, having undergone back surgeries in September and again in October of that year, and not won anywhere since 2013.Woods, who spent a record 281 consecutive weeks as world number one but has now fallen to 898th in the rankings, needs four majors to tie Jack Nicklaus’s record.
Fellow golfers were just as interested to see Woods back in action. Henrik Stenson spoke about the much awaited return at his news conference.
“As you know he’s done some remarkable things throughout his career so If there’s someone who can jump right back in again that would be him. He’s got all the experience and it might take a bit of time and it might go quickly. You never know.”
Woods had planned to return at last month’s Safeway Open in California but withdrew three days before the opening round, saying his game was not sharp enough.