UFC icon Conor McGregor has sent a message to another sporting great in Tiger Woods, after wishing the golf star well in his return at The Masters. Woods made a sensational comeback on Thursday, after appearing on the PGA Tour 17 months on from his last outing.
It was feared that Woods would never play competitive golf again after suffering severe injuries in a high-speed car crash in 2021. 14 months later though, the 82-time PGA Tour winner defied all the odds to make a sensational return at the opening major of the year.
During his opening round, Woods received a message from McGregor, after the MMA star took to Twitter to pay tribute to the 15-time major winner. The Irishman tweeted: “Hats off to the Golf Goat @TigerWoods this weekend.
“Grit and hard work can combine for a comeback - the world is cheering for you. Congratulations, my friend.” Despite his time away from the course, Woods looked more than comfortable during his opening round as he took to a course he has enjoyed so much success down the years.
Unsurprisingly, the Augusta patrons flooded in their numbers to watch the five-time green jacket winner make his long-awaited return. Following a solid start of five pars on the bounce, Woods rolled back the years at the par three sixth by firing his tee shot within a few feet of the pin before tapping in for birdie.
Despite giving a shot back at the ninth, the 82-time PGA champ had another in the birdie column four holes later after carding a well-earned four on the par five 13th. A frustrating bogey would fellow, but in typical Tiger fashion he had another two on the card at the par three 16th to see him start with a solid one-under-par 71.
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Following his opening round on Thursday Woods revealed just how hard he worked to get to this point, admitting he 'worked every single day' following his release from bed three months after his crash.
He said: "I am proud of my whole team. We worked so hard, people have no idea how hard we worked every day. I've been working everyday, we never took a day off so once I got out of that bed after three months there was no days off... we did something every single day."
The 15-time major champion will be back in action tomorrow, teeing off for his second round at 6:41pm (BST) alongside Louis Ooshtuizen and Joaquin Niemann.
