The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

LEGENDARY golfer Tiger Woods, insisting that he needs to play again, is excited about making his return to professional golf this week in the Hero World Challenge at the Albany Resort.

At a press conference yesterday on the eve of the pro-am that will kick off the tournament today, Woods said there’s nothing like being back on tour, especially in an event that bears his name in the Bahamas.

“To come here to Albany, it doesn’t get a lot better than this.  I’ve had a lot of friends who are either athletes or celebrities come down here,” he said. “They’re never bugged, there’s no paparazzi. People understand. The members understand they want their privacy.

“Albany, we have 1/10th of all the billionaires on the planet here and that’s saying something.  For them to come down here and feel safe and feel like they can be here and operate and run their businesses but also bring their families and enjoy leisure time here as well and have that privacy is incredible.”

For Woods, it’s even more special to make his return here. “The Bahamas is special in its own reason, but I also made my comeback here because this is my event,” he stated. “And I know you have to be in the top 50 in order to get into this event, but the committee allowed one person who’s outside the top 50 get into the event.”

While the committee gave him the exemption to play in his own tournament, Woods said he’s just thrilled to be back with his peers again, many of whom watched in awe as he claimed 79 titles, including 14 majors during the prime of his illustrious career.

 “I think what most people don’t really understand is how much of a fraternity this tour really is. The amount of dinners I’ve gone out to with the guys, the texts, the phone calls over the last 14, 15, 16 months, the guys wanted me to come back out here and play or help in any way possible,” he said.

“Playing practice rounds at home with the guys for a little side change has been fun, but to get back out here at this level has been a challenge.  A lot of hard work, an extreme inordinate amount of patience, which as you all know is not exactly one of my hallmarks. So I’ve had to exercise that more so than usual, but it’s allowed me to get to this point where I’m able to compete, I’m able to play.”

Having undergone two surgeries since he last played in a golf tournament 15 months ago, Woods said his goal this week is to get back to the level that he was before he had to take the time off.

“I’m entered in an event, I’m going to try to win this thing.  I know Bubba went low, shot 25 under. That’s going to be a tall order. I haven’t played in a while. Shooting 25 under is going to be a little hard. But hey, I’m going to give it my best,” he stated.

“I’m going to be focused, I’m going to do what I can do and put the ball in the correct spots, give myself looks and try to bury these putts and post, post scores, and get myself in that mix come Sunday afternoon.”

After taking so much time off to recuperate, Woods said he had plenty time to reflect on whether or not he would ever play again. That time is here and he said he’s ready to embrace a new era.

“There was a lot of trepidation and times where I thought ‑‑ I did think of that because it was realistic,” he stated. “When I had my knee redone and it was completely blown, I knew it was nine months, but I knew I could come back from it.  It’s not nerve damage.

“When you’re dealing with a spine, when you’re dealing with nerves, it’s a totally different deal.  There’s a lot of guys who have had injuries like that and have come back and done well and have won golf tournaments, but each individual spinal injury is different and has its own little personality.”

Woods, who has been busy building his business empire under one entity during his hiatus from playing on the tour, said everything is coming into place and now seemed to be the right time to play again.

“The sponsors are happier than they’ve ever been because of the cross‑pollination, better communication has now occurred, and here I am competing again,” he insisted.

Pawan Munjal, the chairman, managing director and CEO of Hero MotoCorp, welcomed Woods, the tournament host, to this year’s tournament, which returns for the second year.

“We all know what he’s done in so many years, broken all kinds of records, stayed World No. 1 for many, many consecutive weeks, has been the PGA Player of the Year a record 11 times and I could go on and on,” he said. “Truly a global brand in himself.  We could not have chosen a better person, a better person suited to be the global corporate partner for Hero MotoCorp.”

“There is a special excitement in the air.  Like all of you, we are very happy to welcome you back to competitive golf, Tiger. We saw that interest that you generated this morning with the media from across the globe. The contingent this year is sizeable,” he said.

“But before we go on, I think we’ve seen a great job having been done here at Albany by the Tiger Woods Foundation, the management and staff of Albany after the unfortunate Hurricane Matthew.  The setting is looking beautiful, looking much better than last year.”

Munjal added that Woods is doing his comeback now because of the Hero World Challenge and they’re looking forward to an exciting time this week at Albany.

The Hero World Challenge comprises of an 18-man field and no one cut. A pro-am will tee of today at 8:30 am before the actual tournament kicks of on Thursday at 11:10 am and wrap up on Sunday.

Bubba Watson shot a 6-under 66 for a three-shot victory over Patrick Reed. For his efforts, Watson walked away with a cash prize of $1 million and a No.4 world ranking.

Going into the tournament, Watson is ranked at No.10. The top two ranked players Jason Day and Rory Mcllroy are not here, but five more of the top 10 are here, including No.3 Dustin Johnson, No.4 Henrik Stenson, No.5 Jordan Spieth, No.6 Hideki Matsuyama, No.8 Patrick Reed.