Tiger Woods at 2016 Hero World Challenge: Grades for Round 1 Performance

And everything was going so well...In his much anticipated first tournament action since the 2015 Wyndham Championship, Tiger Woods, clad in all black, fired a one-over 73 at the 18-man Hero World Challenge at Albany in New Providence, Bahamas.

That, of course, doesn't tell the full story: Woods was four-under and tied for the lead through eight holes. The golfing Twitterverse was collectively losing its mind...and then, a flubbed pitch from short of the ninth green, some wayward driving, a pair of bogeys at par fives and two doubles in his final three holes saw the 14-time major winner sign for the second-worse opening round of the tournament. 

Scrutinizing what is sure to be one of Woods’ most heavily scrutinized rounds, we’ll break down the various aspects of the Striped One’s game: Driving, iron play, short game, putting and course management, before offering an overall assessment.

And we’ll leave the criticism of Woods’ first-round swing relative to his action in years past to Brandel Chamblee and focus more on what the ball was doing, not whether he needed to compensate or lean on bad habits to get the ball to do it or make conjectures about how the swing will hold up under pressure.

With that disclaimer, here’s how TW fared in his return.  

Driving: C

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Woods' ball flight off the tee, more often than not, was a draw that started to the left and ended up further left. It was evident from his first tee shot. 

Before Woods' short game was the most heavily scrutinized aspect of his vaunted golf game, his driving was constantly under the microscope. Given his multiple misses to the left, especially his badly pulled drive at the 18th which found the water, Woods' work with the big stick will be questioned again. 

Woods missed badly at the ninth, 11th and 16th in his first competitive round with a new TaylorMade M2 driver in the bag. 

One of his few encouraging tee shots: A 350-yard rope draw at the 15th down the middle of the fairway. 

Whether he needs to adjust his adjustable M2 driver or modify his swing remains to be seen. Regardless, Woods work off the tee got him in trouble more often than it placed him in an advantageous position. 

Iron Play: B+

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Using a new golf ball, Woods was able to shape the majority of his iron approach shots the way he intended to. 

After missing the fairway at the opening hole, Woods hacked out a controlled approach from the rough to set up a chance for birdie. 

The early highlight of the round, and Woods’ best approach shot of the day, was a 201-yard 6-iron tee shot at the par-three eighth to inside a yard.

When he missed the fairway and found Albany's omnipresent waste areas, Woods struggled. He hit a poor shot from the waste bunker left of the fairway at the 11th into an unplayable lie but followed up by a nice 9-iron from just under 140 yards from the waste bunker on the opposite side of the fairway. 

Woods fired another brilliant mid-iron approach at the par-three 12th hole from 200 yards.

If trajectory control, particularly in the wind, is the hallmark of a good ball-striker, then Tiger Woods was generally pretty good in his opening round.

Around the Greens: C

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Some very good, some very bad. Woods began with a brilliant pitch from behind the green at the third to set up a tap-in birdie. He hit another stellar pitch at the fourth to save par from the tightly mowed area. Short of the sixth green, Woods lofted a full-swing flop and made birdie.

Then came a stubby pitch from short of the green at nine which didn’t make it to the putting surface, bringing to mind Woods’ short-game woes of 2015. He hit a poor bunker shot at the 14th and made a mess of another pitch at the 16th en route to a double bogey. 

Much like his score, Woods bolted out of the gate with quality short-game play before some mighty stumbles.  

Putting: B

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For the most part, Woods showed good speed on longer putts and early birdie misses were close, such as at five. He poured in his made his most makeable early birdie putt at the sixth and made a nice par putt from six feet at 10.

Woods didn't miss any putts we'd have expected him to make. Certainly the comebacker at 12, and to a great degree, the par-saving putt from off the green at the 14th were stellar. That said, he only rolled in two birdie efforts of any length (sixth and eighth holes). 

There were a few sloppy efforts with his storied Scotty Cameron Newport 2 back in the bag, but Woods' putting was ultimately an asset in his opening round. 

Overall: C

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A questionable decision to hit driver off the 18th tee when a fairway wood or long iron would have covered plenty of yardage saw Tiger Woods' tee shot journeying to a watery grave. Absent that bit of foolishness which led to double bogey, Woods largely handled his business at Albion, despite struggling off the tee.

It could be argued, as well, that Woods ought not to have hit driver at the driveable 16th hole, given his inability to routinely find the fairway. That decision also led to double bogey. 

Beyond these pair of unwise decisions and a couple of pitch shots, Woods' first work inside the ropes since 2015 was relatively average with a few gems of the iron-shot variety.  

We'll give Tiger a "C" for his opening-round 73. But perhaps most importantly going forward: In the moral victory department, Woods didn't appear to be hampered by any lingering back issues.