Three share lead as Woods falters in Hero World Challenge

NASSAU, Bahamas -- Henrik Stenson, Jon Rahm and Tony Finau are tied for the lead on 13-under par heading into the final round of the Hero World Challenge.

Sweden's Stenson and Spain's Rahm, who shared the overnight lead, couldn't be separated at the close of day three in signing for three-under par 69s while American Finau birdied both the 15th and 16th holes in a round of 67 to join his European Ryder Cup-winning rivals.

"I played nicely birding four of the par-fives, and on this golf course, we have five of them," said Finau who is making his debut in the $3 million event hosted by Tiger Woods on the Albany Club course.

"That's what you have to do to play well, so I was able to do that today.

"This is a golf course I'm not very familiar with, I played it once before we played. When I'm playing well, I feel like I can score on any golf course, especially a course that has five par-fives.

"We play a lot of golf courses on the PGA Tour there's only two or three, so to be able to have those couple extra par-fives you just know you're going to have some opportunities to score and I've been able to take advantage of those opportunities," added Finau, who is nine-under on 15 par-fives through three rounds.

The 29-year old Salt Lake City golfer said he had also benefitted from a small adjustment to his putter as he seeks to make amends after losing out in a play-off in last month’s WGC – HSBC Champions.

"I added two degrees of loft in my putter after Thursday and then went out and shot 64 yesterday with it and so I decided to keep it," he said.

Stenson was four-under par over the outward nine holes but played the inward half in one-over as he seeks a first victory since capturing the 2017 Wyndham Championship.

"It's a three-way tie for the lead so it's very much an open ballgame," Stenson said.

"It's a small-field tournament, but it still gives you a nice boost if you manage to win at the end of the day."

- Ace lifts Noren -

Fellow Swede Alex Noren was celebrating after recording a hole-in-one at the par-three 17th hole in what was a remarkable finish for the Ryder Cup star.

Noren was two-over par after 10 holes and then after a birdie on 12 he completed his closing five holes in bizarre manner – birdie (14), eagle (15), triple-bogey (16), ace (17) and birdie (18) in a score of 70 that put him tied for eighth on eight-under.

Woods, meanwhile, couldn't find any momentum, his third-round 72 seeing him drop to last in the 18-player field on two-under par.

"I just haven’t played clean this week," said Woods, who had five birdies on his card but also three bogeys and a double bogey seven at the par-five third.

The 14-time major winner began the week battling a "bug" he picked up from his son Charlie.

"Today was probably the best I’ve felt physically this week, finally started to get my energy back and started to feel a little bit better,” he said.

Immediately following the event, Woods is flying by private jet to Los Angeles to board a QANTAS flight direct to Melbourne.

He'll be there for three days as part of his preparations as the USA Presidents Cup Team Captain ahead of the staging of the biennial event last next year.

"We'll go out there and look at the golf course and we'll look at the set-up and drive around it and see the administrative side of it and where we'll have the team facility," he said.

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Tiger still a major threat, say Calcavecchia and Janzen

The show that Tiger Woods put on last week in his latest comeback from injury was enough to convince a pair of major winners that he may still be able to triumph in golf's blue riband events.

Woods swung freely and with no sign of back pain at the Hero World Challenge, finishing tied for ninth in the 18-man exhibition which featured eight of the world's top 10 golfers.

Mark Calcavecchia saw enough to know it would be foolish to write off the former world number one.

"His name is Tiger Woods after all. You don't just forget that he has won 14 majors and 79 (PGA Tour) tournaments," the former British Open winner told a conference call to promote the Diamond Resorts Invitational.

"I watched most of last week and I was very impressed with a lot of things. He's going at it full speed, he's certainly not holding back trying to protect what we all thought was still going to be a tender back."

Following spinal fusion surgery and a lengthy layoff, Woods arrived at the Bahamas event ranked 1,199th but after posting a 31 on his opening nine holes, his odds to win the U.S. Masters in April dropped to 15-1, according to one Las Vegas bookmaker.

In August, he had opened at 100-1 odds to win the year's first major.

Calcavecchia said Woods, who remains four majors behind Jack Nicklaus's record of 18, would be well served to play in more events than usual to get into a groove.

While Woods drove the ball as well as he had in a decade, he was rusty when it came to chipping, but that was no concern for twice U.S. Open winner Lee Janzen.

"Tiger Woods has a variable that is unmeasurable that you can never count him out," said Janzen.

"He always has in his pocket somewhere the ability to do something dramatic and to pull off the right shot at the right time.

"His putting looked really good. But if he regains that touch with chipping I would be surprised if he wasn't in contention in a major."

Woods will turn 42 on Dec. 30 and the competition he faces from the game's younger players is deeper than in his prime.

But just as Nicklaus came out of nowhere to win the 1986 Masters at the age of 46, Janzen felt the same could be in store for Woods.

"That is the biggest question, can he win a major now because he is playing against a bunch of Tiger clones, basically," he said.

"All these young guys are playing like he used to play and it isn't just one of them.

"So he has to beat the younger version of himself now and there's a handful of them, at least.

"But just like Jack Nicklaus, when they tried to write him off he showed everybody that he wasn't done yet."

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ian Ransom)

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Woods hopes to shake off rust with busy calendar

LOS ANGELES -- Tiger Woods said Monday he is confident that his battered 41-year-old body can withstand the rigors of playing in four golf tournaments over the next five weeks.

The 14-time major winner, who returned to golf in December at the Hero World Challenge following a 15-month injury layoff, has committed to a hectic schedule which will see him open his 2017 season at this week's Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.

"I have played one time in the last 18 months," American Woods said during a news conference Monday at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. "I just need to get in some tournament golf. I am looking forward to it."

After the Farmers at the Torrey Pines course, Woods will fly off to United Arab Emirates for the Dubai Desert Classic from February 2-5, followed by the Genesis Open at Riviera on February 16-19.

He then travels home to Florida to take part in the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens (February 23-26).

The Farmers Open will be Woods' first full field tournament since undergoing back surgery in 2015.

Asked if he is physically up to the task with all the injuries he has endured the past several years, Woods said: "That is a concern but I am looking forward to it. I feel I am strong enough to handle the workload.

   
- Ready for the Masters -

"I sat out long enough. I have been on the sidelines so long."

Woods admitted Monday that he once doubted whether he would ever return to golf.

"There was a time when I didn't know if I could ever swing a golf club again and play with my kids," he said.

The former world number one Woods may be far from his top form, but he says he still has his sights set on competing in the majors and his first order of business is the Masters in April.

"I am hoping to get everything right so I can play," he said. "I am thinking about it (Masters) now."

Woods has won the PGA Tour's Torrey Pines tournament seven times in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013.

"It was the first PGA tournament I went to," Woods said. "So I got exposed to pro golf there."

Woods last won a major title at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines by beating Rocco Mediate in an epic 19-hole playoff despite playing with a gimpy left knee that later required surgery.

His last PGA title was at the 2013 WGC event in Akron, Ohio.

When he tees it up at historic Riviera in just over three weeks it will be his first appearance in the event in 11 years.

"I have always loved playing this course. I just never played it well," Woods said. "I played here as a junior, an amateur and a professional. It is special place."

Last month, Tiger Woods played golf with then-President-elect Donald Trump at Trump International Golf Club in Florida.

Woods described Trump as a big hitter and said the 70-year-old was able to walk the entire 18 holes with him.

"For a person who is 70 he hits it hard," said Woods. "He keeps himself in pretty good shape. We walked all 18 holes and had a great time."

Asked if Trump could shoot a score of under 80 at the Riviera course, Woods paused, smiled and said, "Not today. It is too wet out there."

In addition to finding his form, Woods will be facing in 2017 a new crop of rising young stars such as top ranked Aussie Jason Day, Japanese ace Hideki Matsuyama, four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, eight-time PGA Tour winner Jordan Spieth and the hottest player on the Tour Justin Thomas, who has won three tournaments so far this season.

Woods says he hasn't lost the fire and passion for the game that made him one of the best of all-time.

"I am very excited about getting the season started. I miss playing and competing," said Woods, whose 14 major titles is second to only Jack Nicklaus' record of 18.

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Tiger's next chapter a hot topic for players and fans

With the opening PGA Tour event of 2017 just a month away, golf fans and players are bracing for the next chapter from Tiger Woods as the former world number one prepares for his first start on the U.S. circuit since August 2015.

Though Woods is unlikely to tee it up in competition until the Jan. 26-29 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where he is a seven-times former champion, he has already given a taste of what to expect with his performance in the Bahamas last week.

Back in action after an absence of almost 16 months caused by chronic back problems, Woods produced roller-coaster form at the Hero World Challenge which he hosts to finish 15th in an elite 17-man field.

Hardly surprisingly, the 14-times major winner was rusty in certain areas of his game and made several errors in judgement over the four rounds but also showed flashes of the brilliant golf for which he was once renowned and ended the week with a tournament-high 24 birdies.

Woods was clearly delighted to be back competing with his peers and his fellow American, world number five Jordan Spieth, expressed the views of many in that Bahamas field with a positive and excited assessment of the tournament host's return to competition.

"What looks like is happening is he's being patient, he's making a return, he's confident in his game," Spieth, 23, told reporters about the 40-year-old Woods. "That's really exciting for us and for golf.

"He's a guy that can continue to have an influence on the golf course for players ... he can truly help get the numbers back up in golf."

Spieth, who won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, felt Woods should not be judged on the success of his comeback until at least late next year, saying any player needed a minimum of one week of competition for every two weeks away from the game to establish good rhythm.

"But what he did (in the Bahamas) showed that he's certainly up for the task and his game's there, he's ready to go," said Spieth. "Even with Tiger, every time we set expectations, he exceeds them.

"But that's sometimes not fair then to set even higher ones, so certainly I hope that he gets his time ... and I'm sure he will. He's mentally tough as anybody who's ever been in the game."

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in St. Augustine, Florida; Editing by Frank Pingue)

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