Tiger Woods at Hero World Challenge 2016: Thursday Leaderboard and Reaction

There were signs of promise, but Tiger Woods' return to competitive golf closed out with a bit of a whimper.

After a solid start, Woods made double bogey on two of the last three holes of his first round at the Hero World Challenge in Nassau. He finished the day with a one-over 73, nine shots behind clubhouse leader J.B. Holmes.

Woods made four birdies before recording his first bogey to close out the front nine. He even briefly held a share of the lead. A tendency to hit to the left was his undoing on the back nine, where he had one birdie and one bogey to go along with the two doubles.

Playing in his first tournament in 15 months after two back surgeries, the question now is how well Woods' body will hold up over three more days of competition. He teased fans with hints that he might be able to return to the form that had him in the conversation as one of the greatest golfers of all time, but the second half of his round was all-too-reminiscent of the struggles he endured before taking his break.

Round 2 of the Hero World Challenge will go Friday from the Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas.