Tiger Woods at Hero World Challenge 2014: Daily Scores and Leaderboard Updates

For the first time in four months, Tiger Woods stepped on a golf course to take part in a PGA Tour event. The 14-time major winner was one of 18 players who took part in the 2014 Hero World Challenge in Florida. He also had a personal stake in the event, as his foundation is one of the hosts.

Even with notable names like Jordan Spieth and Bubba Watson in the exclusive field, all eyes were on Woods. It's not a stretch to say that 2014 was the worst year of his illustrious career, with no wins and three missed cuts in just seven events due to a back injury.

Unfortunately, he didn't fare well at all, finishing tied for last at even par for the tournament. His performance certainly won't silence his critics and doubters, as concerns continue to linger regarding the questionable longevity of his remaining career.

Here's a look at how the 38-year-old fared in his round at the World Hero Challenge.

Day 4 Recap

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Par	4	3	5	4	3	4	5	4	4	36
Score	4	3	5	4	3	4	4	4	3	34
Total	E	E	E	E	E	E	-1	E	-2	-2
Par	4	3	4	5	4	3	4	5	4	36	72
Score	4	3	4	8	4	4	3	4	4	38	72
Toal	-2	-2	-2	+1	+1	+2	+1	E	E	E	E

Woods entered Day 4 without a chance to make a run at the top of the leaderboard, but needed a low round to establish momentum going forward. He began his round with six consecutive pars, reaching the par-five seventh at even for the tournament. He birdied the hole and finished the front nine with another on the par-four ninth, making the turn with a two-under 34.

After three consecutive pars on the back nine, disaster struck. Woods took a devastating triple bogey on the par-five 13th. While he did eagle the hole on Friday, he dropped at least one shot on the par five in each of his other three rounds.

Woods appeared poised to continue his decline on the ensuing par-four 14th, needing to hole out a 42-foot putt just to save par. Well, in vintage Tiger fashion, he did. Here's a look at the putt, via PGA Tour:

That big putt appeared to give Woods the momentum he needed; however, he followed it up with a bogey on the par-three 15th. He was able to turn things around and birdie the following two holes, getting back to even par on the day and for the tournament.

After his round, Woods spoke of how his body felt and his return to action, via Golf Digest:

Woods took to his Twitter account following the tournament to congratulate Jordan Speith on securing the victory:

The fact Woods wasn't in pain throughout a full 72-hole tournament is a great sign of progress; however, the inconsistency in Woods' game was wildly apparent. He hasn't been able to capitalize on his good holes and gain the momentum that used to propel him up leaderboards. Steve Sticker played with Woods in during the final round and commented on his play during a press conference, via PGATour.com:

"

He's going through it a little more freer. Obviously, his short game—putting and chipping—is not up to snuff with what he was expecting out of himself, or anyone else for that matter. But he's taking a good rip at it. With any new swing, you're going to have challenges. It's going to take time.

"

Stricker's absolutely right. It will take plenty of time for Woods to regain his from following his injury and changes made to his swing. For now, the golfing world must remain patient.

Day 3 Recap

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In
Par	4	3	5	4	3	4	5	4	4	36
Score	3	3	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	35
Total	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+2	+2	+2	-1 (+2)
Par	4	3	4	5	4	3	4	5	4	36
Score	4	3	3	6	4	4	3	4	3	34
Toal	+2	+2	+1	+2	+2	+3	+2	+1	E	-2 (E)

On a day that saw Tiger Woods labor through the third round of the Hero World Challenge with an unspecified illness, the host somehow managed to come through with an impressive outing.

Woods fired a three-under 69, which represented his best round of the tournament and got him back to even par with one round to play, although he still resides in last place.

It was quite evident from the start Saturday that Woods was in for a long day from a health standpoint. According to Kelly Tilghman of Golf Channel, it seemed quite possible that Tiger would decide to withdraw from the event due to illness:

Nobody knew for sure how sick Tiger felt, but it didn't take long for that question to be answered. Woods managed to birdie the par-four first hole, but not before vomiting on the course, per NBC Sports:

Despite his obvious distress, the 14-time major champion decided to soldier on. ESPN's Bob Harig suggested that Woods felt a certain responsibility to gut it out for his fans as well as his foundation:

That is precisely what he decided to do. Tiger gutted his way through the round even though he threw up for a second time, according to Tilghman:

While Woods didn't show any signs of being physically ill during his second-round performance Friday, he told Harig that he was far from 100 percent.

"I wasn't feeling my best, that's for sure, but it is what it is," he said. "Just got to stay hydrated and try and keep things down."

The 38-year-old legend showed a remarkable amount of toughness and determination by competing in the third round, but Jason Sobel of GolfChannel.com pointed out that his critics would likely somehow use it against him:

Many have questioned Woods' level of play and motivation in recent years, but there is no denying the fact that he was unselfish and courageous Saturday.

Tiger played very well for much of the round even with so much working against him. His ball striking was especially good, which prompted his former swing coach, Hank Haney, to compliment some of his changes:

In fact, most of Woods struggles over the first couple rounds existed in his short game as he made several chipping mistakes. According to Haney, Tiger would have been in the mix near the top of the leaderboard if not for those correctable mistakes:

Woods was one-under on the round through nine holes with a pair of birdies and one bogey on the front. With Tiger's illness persisting, things got a bit more volatile on the back nine.

Following a birdie on the par-four 12th, Wood would bogey two of the next three holes, which dropped him back to even on the day. He quickly rebounded, however, with his fourth birdie of the round on the par-four 16th.

That momentum carried over to the 17th hole too as he converted his second consecutive birdie to move to one-over par for the tournament.

His remarkable bounce back continued on the 18th as he finished the round with three straight birdies and completed a three-under round in the process.

Per Shane Bacon of Back9Network.com, Woods' great run near the end of the round should bode well for him moving forward:

Tiger certainly has no chance to contend for the win as he was 15 strokes behind leader Jordan Spieth when he entered the clubhouse, but that isn't what this tournament was about anyway.

Woods is simply trying to get back on track after missing time due to injury, and even though his tournament got off to a rough start, he is now moving in the right direction in the face of adversity.

Day 2 Recap

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In
Par	4	3	5	4	3	4	5	4	4	36
Score	3	3	5	4	3	4	5	5	4	36
Total	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5	+5	E (+5)
Par	4	3	4	5	4	3	4	5	4	36
Score	4	3	4	3	3	3	3	5	6	34
Toal	+5	+5	+5	+3	+2	+2	+1	+1	+3	-2 (+3)

One day after a forgettable return to the course after an extended injury layoff, Tiger Woods made some progress during the second round of the Hero World Challenge. The 14-time major champion finished 2-under par on the day, which puts him at 3-over for the tournament.

Woods was playing with fellow American Patrick Reed. Interestingly, the 24-year-old rising star opted to go with a red-and-black color combination—Tiger's traditional Sunday garb—for the round. Kelly Tilghman of Golf Channel noted it led to a funny exchange:

Of bigger consequence for Woods was a cold he seemed to pick up overnight. Golf Channel's Jason Sobel noted he was forced to manage it closely on the course:

His play, however, was better.

He started his day with a birdie on the first hole. It was exactly the type of effort he's going to need a lot more of as he seeks a return to top form. Fairway wood into perfect position, a well-judged approach and converting a putt just outside gimme range for a dropped stroke.

The encouraging signs continued as he proceeded to knock home six straight pars. That may not seem like much, especially for a player of Woods' caliber, but the improvement is going to be incremental in the weeks and months away.

He did drop a stroke back on the eighth. It was another example of rusty play around the greens as he mishit a chip shot leading to the bogey. Golf Channel's Tiger Tracker summed it up:

Woods really started finding a groove after making the turn. But Reed had already been going low, which Ewan Murray of The Guardian believes is a sign of bigger theme about the current version of Tiger:

After a string of pars, Woods put together another hole that reminded golf fans of his days running away from the field on No. 13. A picture-perfect approach on the par five left him a mid-range look for eagle and he rolled it in.

Golf Digest passed along an interesting note about the eagle:

Suddenly he started to find a rhythm. He birdied two of the next three holes to get himself back to just 1-over par for the tournament. The swing continued to look a lot more open and free than it was before injuries derailed most of his 2014.

Dropping four shots in a four-hole stretch is definitely the type of encouraging sign Woods was hoping to get out of this week.

After he parred 17, it suddenly started pouring at Isleworth, which forced a weather delay. European Tour pro Gary Evans provided a look at the 18th green:

"

Golf has stopped at Isleworth, check this out! 18th green! pic.twitter.com/NuPTIH0O26

— Gary Evans (@GaryEvansGolf) December 5, 2014"

Unfortunately, Woods' strong round was damaged significantly once play resumed. Tiger carded a six on the par-four 18th, which resulted in him once again falling into last place all by himself.

It is difficult to say what contributed to Tiger's poor finish, but the delay may very well have halted his momentum.

Woods will enter the third round on a low note, but he has a chance to make some more gains if he returns to the form he displayed for much of the second round.

Day 1 Recap

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In
Par	4	3	5	4	3	4	5	4	4	36
Score	5	4	5	4	3	4	6	6	4	41
Total	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+5	+5	+5
Par	4	3	4	5	4	3	4	5	4	36
Score	4	3	3	6	4	3	4	5	4	36
Total	+5	+5	+4	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5 (77)

One of the big stories coming into the event was Woods' new partnership with swing coach Chris Como. During a Tuesday press conference, the former world No. 1 offered some telling insight into why he went with Como, via Adam Schupak of Golfweek.com.

"I had this plan in my head of where I wanted to go and what I want my swing to look like and what I want to get out of my body and out of my game," Woods said. "I just needed to align myself with a person that felt the same way. Chris fits that, for sure."

If you were hoping to see vintage Tiger Woods in his first round back after a long layoff, you were disappointed to find he's in last place. He was going to have a steep climb to reach a point where he's contending, but to see how flat he came out was disheartening.

The Hero World Challenge did seem like a good event for Woods to make his return, as he used to live in central Florida, and ESPN's Bob Harig pointed out it was the last tournament he was competitive in:

Contention doesn't seem like it will be in the cards this year. Jason Sobel of Golf Channel put it in perspective by noting that Jordan Spieth, who shot a five-under on the front nine, could have come out ahead of Woods if he gave him a shot per hole:

It looked like Woods was turning a corner on the back nine, hitting his first birdie on the 12th hole, but the 13th hole turned into a disaster. He got on the green with a chance for another birdie, but Harig noted that was when a mini-meltdown happened:

Woods' biggest problem Thursday, as Harig noted in the hashtag on his tweet, was chipping. His driving wasn't terrible, hitting 64.29 percent of the fairways, but he only hit 61.11 percent of his greens in regulation and averaged 1.909 putts per green in regulation, per PGATour.com. When you're only leaving yourself one putt to make par, it's hard to compete.

There was one moment, on the 12th hole, where Woods did show signs of life with his irons. As you can see in this video from the PGA Tour's Twitter account, Woods nearly stuck one in the hole from 127 feet:

Unfortunately, that's as good as things would get for Woods. There were moments he was battling himself as much as the course, struggling to do simple fundamental things.

Woods was sitting just off the green on the 17th hole, tried to chip slightly uphill and couldn't do it on the first try. The ball rolled back down by his feet, giving us this image from ESPN's Michael Collins that pretty much sums up the round:

Things are bleak right now, and there's no way to defend a lot of what Woods did Thursday. Long layoff or not, he looked bad. There were simple shots that any professional golfer should be making that he just wasn't executing.

Sobel tweeted after the round was over that Woods told us before the tournament to expect some growing pains:

This was always going to be the first step in Woods' process. It's probably not a coincidence that he decided to return at an event where there is no cut after the second round. The 11-time PGA Tour Player of the Year will need time and reps in tournaments to get his swing and timing back.

The most encouraging thing is the way Woods battled on the back nine. After shooting five over par on his first nine holes, the round was shaping up to be among the worst of his career. Instead, despite flubs on Nos. 13 and 17, he got out of it with an even-par 36 to stay at five over. 

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