Tiger Woods's Return to the PGA Tour went Better than Expected

Tiger Woods carded a final round 68 at the Hero World Challenge to finish the tournament at eight-under. After an opening round 69 and second round 68, Woods struggled during the third round, shooting 75. However, Woods wasn’t the only golfer to have issues on Saturday in the Bahamas. None of the 18 in the field broke 70 and four golfers, including Tiger, shot 75 or worse, including the number one ranked player in the world, Dustin Johnson.

Woods’s scorecard on Sunday was a bit messy as he finished with an eagle, six birdies, two bogies, and a double bogie. The biggest takeaway is that Woods did not appear to be in any pain during the tournament. He never appeared to be walking gingerly like after previous surgeries and bounced back nicely after the Saturday 75 showing that he can still grind.

While expectations going forward for Tiger should be tempered, there are plenty of positives to take away from this week.

What’s next for Woods regarding his schedule? Here’s what he had to say after his final round.

"“We’re gonna sit down, try to figure out the best way to build my schedule for the majors, play how much, what my training cycles should be. Play enough, but don’t play too much.”"

So clearly the goal is to prepare for majors, which has always been Tiger’s goal. My best guess is that he will play at the Farmers Insurance Open at the end of January, the Genesis Open in February followed by the Honda Classic and finish with the Arnold Palmer Invitational before resting for Augusta and the Masters.