Out of the woods

Hurricane Matthew ravaged the Bahamas in October. The signs of the destruction—damaged roofs, uprooted trees, ruined flora and fauna—are still around as a grim reminder. Forty minutes from downtown Nassau, there is a green signboard with Southern Sea Road written across. Behind it is a freshly painted board with Albany in bold letters.

A luxury resort community set on 600 acres of oceanside property in New Providence, Albany was created by golfing greats Ernie Els and Tiger Woods in partnership with Joe Lewis, founder of the international investment agency Tavistock Group. It used to be a pine forest. The James Bond film Casino Royale was shot here. The secluded properties in the neighbourhood are home to the likes of Diana Ross and Sean Connery.

Woods, arguably the world’s greatest golfer, came out of a 16-month hiatus here to play in the Hero World Challenge. He had doubts about returning to competitive golf after a surgery in December 2015. The former world No 1, who had won 14 Majors, was ranked 898th before the start of the tournament.

He is leaner, weighs 77kg thanks to a sickness around the time of Thanksgiving; he is older, he will turn 41 on December 30; he has a new golf bag and new set of equipment, a Bridgestone ball and a TaylorMade driver. There’s something old too—the Scotty Cameron putter he used to win 14 major championships, and, of course, shades of the old mojo.

On day one, as he sank an effortless birdie putt on the 7th hole, a father told his young son, “This is what it used to be like.”

On day two, as he shot a bogey free round of 65, including an almost hole-in-one on the 12th, the smiles were back everywhere.

Woods had garnered attention and crowds throughout the two decades as a professional golfer. It remains so in his comeback. Golfing greats had been keeping an eye on him; Ernie Els was present in person.

The doubts were legitimate. In the 2014 edition of the same event in Isleworth Golf and Country Club in Florida, Woods had a nightmarish start. This was followed by his worst round in his professional career with an 11 over par 82 in the second round of the Phoenix event in January 2015.

A nervous Woods spent the last year and a half in recovery and rehab; almost no golf and spending time with his children, daughter Sam Alexis, 9, and son Charlie Axel, 7. “It wasn’t just that day, it was that period of a month or two, where getting out of bed, I just couldn’t get out of bed. I needed help. It was a tough time. I can’t even get out of bed, how am I supposed to swing a club at 120 miles an hour?” said Woods.

The surgery has affected his training. “My first 5-6 years on Tour I ran 30 miles a week. I would run 5-6 miles every day. Before a round, after a round, it did not matter. There is no way I am doing that now. That’s just ageing. I don’t load the spine like I used to. I am trying to do other things to gain strength. I can walk on a treadmill for 2-3 hours. It’s not the same, putting on spikes and uneven lies. I come in, my ankles are sore, my feet are sore. This is different, and I had to get used to that,” he said.

He holds mini training camps with his coach Chris Como and caddy Joe LaCava. “We’ll have small little windows where we’ll practise when I have time to do it. Then I’ll shut it down, I’ll work on my short game in the backyard, chip and putt, and then we’ll have another training camp a week or two later,” said Woods.

The players are rallying around the champ in his comeback. “Now he has got to trust his back as well, what the doctors have done, his training, all of this,” said world No 10 Bubba Watson. “So it’s a different mindset. I could see where he would have some down moments, a day that his body doesn’t react the way he wants it to. So we are encouraging him.”

A lone wolf most of his career, Tiger is grateful for the support. “A lot of these guys have my numbers, but the amount of not just advice but the support of offering—’Is there anything I can do to help you come back? Can we play or go out to dinner, talk or whatever you need to get back out here and play?—that blew me away,” said Woods.

Once upon a time there was a Tiger whose presence was intimidating for his opponents. His first Masters win in 1997 changed golf, as he embarked on a journey of total dominance. Award-winning golf writer Doug Ferguson narrated an incident that explained his attitude. “He was going for his 4th straight Major at the Masters in 2001. He walked out of club house, onto the putting range before the tee off. His mother was standing right there. He never saw her. He was so in the zone he never saw his own mother,” said Ferguson.

“There was a presence about Tiger that was unlike anything I had ever seen—not even Jack Nicklaus was like that,” said Ferguson. “Jack was so geared towards family—he would go home to his five kids; he had a child before he won his first Major. Tiger grew up single-focussed. Patrick Reed said two years ago at this tournament, ‘If looks could kill, Tiger would kill you. He had a look in his eyes that got to you’.”

Woods pulled out of the Safeway Open in California in October citing his game was “vulnerable,” an admission Woods of earlier times would never have made. “You can’t play this game for ever; I can’t compete at high level competitions for ever,” said Woods, describing this as phase 2 of his career.

Ferguson said Woods had got a chance to start anew. “Everybody wants to see him play. From 2010 to 2014, he tried to present himself as Tiger Woods the great player. Last year we got a glimpse of mortality. He wasn’t depressed, but aware that he was getting towards the end,” he said.

Reed, world No 8, became famous for exchanging lots of “trash, fun” with Woods during the Ryder Cup two moths ago. “There’s a lot of times we were out there and we were walking the golf course, just a couple things he would say or I would say that I just felt brought us a little closer together, and really it’s just those events are to bond and kind of grow relationships with other players,” he said.

Watson believes this comeback is for Woods the person. “Tiger doesn’t need to play again, I think he’s good. I think his money’s good, he’s okay. So I feel like it’s just for him.” he said.

Golf wants Woods back as much as Woods wants to be back. It is no secret that he brought the crowds to golf courses. Said Karen Crouse of The New York Times, “He came to a part of North Carolina where he had not played before. North Carolina is a golf mad state. Yet when he came the club sold four times more tickets.”

The fellow players cannot stop marvelling at Woods’s aura. “He’s still just turning every head when he walks into the dining area. Or if he’s on the driving range, everybody is looking up to see him hit some shots. I was doing it this morning. I think it was a dream for all of us young guys to one day grow up and battle Tiger on a Sunday when he was playing his best, see if you can pull off a shot where you can take him down,” said Jordan Spieth, world No 4.

Woods returns to a game that has changed a lot. The younger crop hits harder and longer. “When I first came out here I was the second longest guy on the Tour. John Daly was was the first one to average over 300. Half-way through the last year, there were 50 guys averaging over 300,” said Woods. His short game was his mightiest, but no longer. “Tiger doesn’t make putts like he used to,” said Ferguson. “Tiger used to make everything. That’s a product of age.”

The equipment, too, has changed. “I am still learning my fairway woods, the golf ball,” said Woods. He spent a lot of time while in Albany in the testing centre and is planning to do more.

Woods has made alterations to his swing. He went back to his college days and the way he played then, digging out old tapes to watch. “I’ve made subtle changes here and there. I’ve tried to go back and look at and do some stuff that I used to do as a junior that I did naturally,” he said.

Golf needs that one last spurt of magic before Woods calls it a day. He is still eyeing Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 Majors. While that seems a distant goal as of now, golf is glad that its one-man force is back in action.