It was a tale of two nines for Tiger Woods on his return to the professional golfing ranks at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
Woods, playing his first competitive round in nearly 18 months, lit up the exclusive course with four birdies in his first eight holes to move into the joint lead on Thursday (Friday NZ time).
But, once he made the turn, it was a different story as he closed with two double bogeys to plummet down to 17th, second last in the elite field.
Woods shot 33 on the front nine and then closed with 40 to record a one-over par 73, nine shots behind leader JB Holmes.
Woods opened with back-to-back pars before making a birdie on the par-five third hole but then went on a tear with a birdie at the par-five third followed by three straight birdies from the sixth.
But the birdie blitz stopped on the par-five ninth when Woods fluffed a green-side chip shot and made bogey. He added another bogey at the par-five 11th.
He added another birdie at the par-five fifteenth before double bogeys on the 16th and 18th.
The elite 18-man field has attracted some of the world's top golfers including world No 3 Dustin Johnson and No 5 Jordan Spieth, fourth-ranked Swede Henrik Stenson and Britain's Olympic champion Justin Rose.
With no midway cut Woods will get four rounds to assess his comeback before deciding on where and when he will return to the PGA Tour.
Reuters
