Tiger Woods returned to competitive golf on Monday, shooting a 5-over-77 against the star-studded JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor in Limerick, Ireland.
Woods is ranked 43rd in the 50-player field. Xander Schauffele, who won the Travelers a week ago, sits in first place after a 64 with no bogey.
The game ends on Tuesday.
For Woods, the event is preparation for next week’s Open Championship at the famous St Andrews in Scotland. Woods has not played since retiring after the third round of the PGA Championship, where he struggled in cooler temperatures while hitting a 79, and retired hours later. It was only his second tour event since he was seriously injured in a car accident in February 2021; Woods also competed in the Masters, finishing 47. He chose to skip last month’s US Open, saying he needed to give his body more time to heal and get stronger.
On Monday, Woods was 5 past the lead, with a double bogey on the second par 4. He played birdie-bogey-eagle-bogey to start his backside en route to 77. The eagle on the par-5 12 chipped in from the front of the green.
Tiger roar in Ireland 🙌@JPProAm | #JPProAm2022 pic.twitter.com/A1rqad8NoW
– DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 4, 2022
Woods has now played eight rounds of competition this year (although Monday’s was unofficial). He’s shot 77 or more in four of them, and he’s 30 overs overall.
Rickie Fowler is alone in second place after a 67. Other notables include Brooks Koepka (69, #4), Dustin Johnson (70, T-8), Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy (71, T-12), Bryson DeChambeau (72). , T-20) and Scottie Scheffler (75, T-37). DeChambeau’s round included a quadruple bogey 9 on the seventh par 5, although he under 6 on his last eight holes to save the 72.
Leona Maguire, the LPGA Tour member from Ireland and the only woman in the field, was tied.