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A17
Thursday 2 November 2017

Tiger’s return

ultimately
measured by RATED

performance

By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
Tiger Woods still has more
majors than comebacks.
But the gap is narrowing.
Woods said he will return PG
to competition at the Hero
World Challenge the week
after Thanksgiving — an
18-man field in the Baha-
mas with no cut — just over
seven months after fusion
surgery.
That was his fourth back
surgery in a little more than
two years, and that alone
should be enough to tem-
per expectations.
This will be the 10th time
that Woods has returned
from an unscheduled
break of two months or
more, eight of them since
winning his 14th major at
Torrey Pines in the 2008 U.S.
Open.
And it will be the fifth time
he returns since his last vic-
tory in August 2013 at the
Bridgestone Invitational.
Should it be cause for cel-
ebration?
Of course.
A popular phrase in recent
years is that golf needs
Woods, but this is only true
as it relates to his perfor-
mance. Otherwise, it be-
comes a nostalgia tour,
and the question facing
Woods is whether he can
handle being a ceremoni-
al golfer. If that’s what this
is about, there would be
no need for him to play.
This will be the second
straight year that Woods
makes a celebrated
comeback from back sur-
gery in the Bahamas.
He had gone 15 months
surgeries when he played Thunder strike early to roll past Bucks
and two microdiscectomy

the Hero World Challenge
last year and finished 15th
against a field of 18 (Justin
Rose withdrew after the
opening round with back Oklahoma City Thunder’s Paul George puts up a shot as Milwaukee Bucks’ Khris Middleton looks on during the first half of
pain). an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, in Milwaukee.
Associated Press
continued on Page 18 Page