Tiger Woods stuttered to a three-over-par round of 75 on his first competitive round of golf since ankle surgery in the wake of the Masters.
In what is only his eighth tournament appearance since his high-speed car accident in 2021, Woods had looked in contention at one-under with just four holes remaining.
But his round at the Hero World Challenge fell apart late on, starting with a double bogey on the 15th followed by two further dropped shots.
Afterwards, the 47-year-old admitted he had felt “rusty” around the course in the Bahamas.
“I kind of hung through there,” he said. “And I did not finish off my round when I needed to. Consequently, it kind of went sideways at the end.
“I felt like I was ready to compete and play. I hit it solid most of the day. I got off to a decent start but I didn’t play the par fives particularly well.
“Now I know mentally what I need to do better. Physically, I knew I was going to be ok, mentally, I was really rusty and made a lot of errors in the mind that I normally don’t make.
“We’ve got some work to do tonight. Tomorrow… hopefully I hit some better shots.”
Brian Harman, the Open champion, shares the lead over the 20-man field after the opening round with fellow American Tony Finau on five-under par.
