What to Watch for in Tiger Woods' Return to Competitive Golf
Tiger Woods is back!
Woods returns to competitive golf this week at the Hero World Challenge, which benefits his foundation. The former world No. 1 will be teeing it up at his former home course, Isleworth Golf & Country Club, in his first tournament since missing the cut at the PGA Championship.
What should you watch for in Tiger's return? Click through to see.
Frostiness Toward the Media
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How will Tiger Woods interact with the golf media who scorned him and then had little sympathy for the bruised ego he wrote about on Derek Jeter's Players' Tribune?
Woods has had a complicated relationship with the media since a perceived betrayal early in his career, and he's a master of the art of evasion in press conferences.
Still, Woods will likely be faced with questions about both his new swing coach and his new adversary (Dan Jenkins). It will be very interesting to hear what he has to say.
Did Rust Sleep?
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They say rust never sleeps. Tiger Woods hasn't played a competitive round of golf since the end of August and has only played four events in the last nine months (and none of them particularly well).
Beyond issues with his back in his return from surgery at the Quicken Loans National and PGA Championship, Woods displayed deficiencies with his touch, short game and distance control—all hallmarks of a rusty golfer.
While he's surely been practicing at his compound in Florida for the past few months, it'll be interesting to see what shape his game is in as he takes on his old home course: Isleworth Golf & Country Club.
Are There Any Discernible Swing Changes?
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Woods is entering another transitional period with his golf swing. And much like Hank Haney was forced to alter his work with Woods due to the latter's leg issues in 2008 and 2009, former coach Sean Foley surely had to modify his expectations for his student due to Woods' back problems this past season.
Now Woods will take whatever mix of Foley's best thinking and their work together to compensate for his deficiencies and will forget all or some of it as he begins work with another coach, Chris Como. Sound convoluted? That's because it is.
It'll be interesting to see Woods' swing at the World Challenge and how discernibly different it looks from what he was doing at the PGA Championship. The Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee has already seen some important differences, noting on Twitter, "Tiger is more upright and his swing is longer. Both good signs."
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Is His "Explosiveness" Back?
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Woods bemoaned his lost explosiveness during the course of his return from injury last season. He routinely stated that he needed to be able to get back in the gym and get it back.
Statistically, Woods has lost club-head speed (and thus distance) over the past several seasons. Last year, with his injured back, he averaged just 115.63 mph. The year before: 118.3 mph. For the sake of comparison, as recently as 2008, Woods was swinging the club at 124.63 mph.
Woods is, however, pushing 40 as he nears his 20th season on the PGA Tour. Will his club-head speed return to pre-back-injury levels, or will he have to learn to play a shorter ball off the tee?
How He Performs with the New Driver
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Woods will reportedly be gaming Nike's new Vapor line this week. Woods launched the line along with Rory McIlroy (and Jimmy Fallon) in mid-August.
Woods hasn't hit Nike drivers particularly well. And he never really seemed comfortable with the Covert 2.0, opting to switch back to the original Covert at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational earlier this year.
It will be interesting to see how the notoriously equipment-finicky Woods hits his Vapor Speed Prototype driver this week. How he hits the new Vapor Irons, too, will be worth watching.
If He's Really Happy to Be Back to Competition
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"Happy to have Chris Como consulting and working with me on my swing. I’m excited to be back competing," Woods tweeted on November 22.
While Woods is surely happy to be returning from the lengthy layoff, it will be interesting to see how he reacts to the likely effects of rust in his golf game: an unimpressive pitch shot, flying an approach over the green due to poor distance control, etc.
While the Hero World Challenge isn't an official PGA Tour event, Woods has never had any qualms about grinding hard for victory at the tournament. Is his competitive fire still burning bright?
What He Has to Say
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Technically, you'll be listening for what he has to say about a couple of topics.
With his Tuesday press conference, Woods has already said something unexpected.
Asked about his new swing under his new coach, Como, Woods said per The Associated Press (h/t Fox Sports):
"It is new, but it's old. I say that because I haven't done it in a very long time. We looked at a lot of video from when I was a junior, in junior and amateur golf. ... And it was quite interesting to see where my swing was then and how much force I could generate with a very skinny frame. How did I do that? How do I generate that much power? That's kind of what we are getting back into it.
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Since he's the man who moves the needle, golf fans always hang on Tiger's every word. That'll be particularly true this week.
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