Tiger looking forward to 2015 TOUR debut in Arizona
Tiger Woods makes his 2015 PGA TOUR debut this week in the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona. He last played at the Hero World Challenge in early December.
Woods, who turned 39 on Dec. 30, is looking for a big year after an injury-plagued 2014 campaign that saw him make only seven PGA TOUR starts. His best finish was a tie for 25th at the WGC-Cadillac Championship last March.
Tiger underwent back surgery for a pinched nerve March 31.
“It’s great to be back,” a relaxed and playful Woods told the media Tuesday after an early-morning practice round. “The golf course is in fantastic shape. The greens definitely have spring to them.”
Following the Hero World Challenge, Tiger took three weeks off to recover from the flu and lost nearly 10 pounds. But he regained the weight and went to work with new swing coach Chris Como. The two watched old tapes of Woods’ swing to help create more distance and consistency off the tee while reducing chances of injury.
“We’ve done some really good work,” Tiger said. “We’re ahead of schedule on each stage of the game plan.”
Woods, making his fourth appearance in the tournament and first since 2001, is particularly enthused about his driving, comparing it to his banner year in 2000, when he led the PGA TOUR in distance and accuracy.
“I’m cranking up the speed,” Woods said. “I’m touching numbers I did 15 years ago.”
At the Hero World Challenge, Tiger struggled with his short game, especially his chipping, chunking nine shots during the event. Nearly all were the result of his new swing changes, and he has adjusted his technique and loft on his sand wedges.
“We had to hit thousands and thousands and thousands of chips,” Woods said. “That aspect is all good.”
When last seen publicly, Tiger was missing a front tooth after being accidentally struck in the face by a photographer’s camera in Italy, where he surprised girlfriend Lindsey Vonn as she set the record for the most World Cup wins in the Super-G.
“That didn’t feel very good,” Tiger said. “I was looking down, and all the camera guys are below on their knees or moving around, trying to get a picture because she’s hugging people, saying congratulations to other racers as they are coming down. Some already finished, some are already there in the changing area.
“Dude with a video camera on his shoulder, right in front of me, kneeling, stood up and turned and caught me square on the mouth. He chipped that one, cracked the other one.”
Woods was wearing a skeleton ski mask so he wouldn’t be recognized; it’s from an X-Box video game he plays called “Ghost Recon.”
“And so then, you know, I’m trying to keep this thing so the blood is not all over the place, and luckily, he hit the one I had a root canal on,” Tiger said. “That’s the one that chipped. But the other one had to be fixed as well, because it had cracks all through it.”
Woods did his best not to become a distraction.
“The story is about Lindsey breaking the record,” he said.
Tiger did not enjoy the flight home.
“I couldn’t eat, couldn’t drink until [the dentist] fixed them, put the temporaries on when I got home,” Woods said. “I couldn’t have anything touch it. Everything hurt, because any kind of air over the nerve, the tooth was still alive, was cracked.”
Tiger, who begins opening-round play Thursday at 2:07 p.m. ET on the first tee with Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, recalled his hole-in-one on the noisy par-3 16th hole in 1997.
“Then on top of that, just smelling and hearing the beer hit behind me on the tee box,” said Woods, who almost broke his hand high-fiving caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan and revved up the crowd by doing a popular “raise-the-roof” gesture.
No. 16 is now flanked by bleachers and sky boxes on three sides. The fans are enthusiastic to say the least.
More than a half-million people are expected to turn out this week, plus the Super Bowl will be played in nearby Glendale on Sunday, which Tiger hopes to attend.
“That’s the plan,” he said. “I just wish my Raiders were there.”
