Anand Datla in New Providence, Bahamas
December 03, 2016: There was no need to wait this afternoon for the leaders to get on the tee box. The rain that pelted the Albany Golf Resort was just a forewarning of the fireworks from Tiger Woods that burnt the course a little later. The 14 times major winner started with three straight birdies to set the tone for a blazing Saturday. At the end of the day though Tiger faded slightly, 8-under through 54 holes. Hideki Matsuyama outplayed Dustin Johnson and the rest of the field to take a massive seven shot lead going into Sunday.
The Sun was down, the clouds shrouding its view of the brilliance on offer at this spectacular windswept course on the New Providence Island. Tiger Woods was smoking his tee shots and laying up with his approaches as if he had never been away.
Watched haplessly by a bemused Rickie Fowler, he was making birdies like a man in a mighty hurry. After making a hat trick to start his day, Woods played a poor approach at the fourth, but nailed a six-footer to save par.
The tee shot at the fifth was too thick off the ground and landed in the bunker to the right of the flag. No problem. Tiger pulled out his sand wedge and drained the ball, before raising his index finger to remind us he still wants to be number one.
Tiger was ten under with barely a third of the round gone and overnight leaders Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson must have felt the sands shift from underneath their heels.
A bogey at the sixth was sandwiched between birdies on either side, helping Tiger turn the corner in 34 strokes. It was an impressive stretch that saw him make 4 of 6 fairways, 7 of 9 GIR and needed just 12 putts.
But his legs started to give away, worn early from having not played competitive golf in a while. His driver turned errant and the back nine was story of patchwork, with Tiger Woods grinding away like a journeyman pro trying hard as hell to keep things together.
The 18th proved to be his undoing for a second time in three outings as he stumbled into the water with his tee shot. He signed on a double bogey there and 70 for the round to end the day in tenth position.
“I’m definitely not as fresh as I would like to be. Rickie and I were talking about that. No matter how much you work out, it’s very different than being in playing shape,” admitted Woods.
“That’s one of the reasons why Joey came down. He came down for two training camps, we walked, we tried to simulate tournament golf, but nothing’s quite the same as playing and the waiting and the grinding and the wind and getting the numbers right and camera phones going off and people moving, sounds. These are all different things that you can’t simulate at home.”
Hideki Matsuyama posted a commanding 65 to end the day at 19-under, seven shots ahead of both Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson.
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