Two eagles carry Scottie to three-shot Hero lead; Tiger 16 strokes down
NASSAU—World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler fired two eagles in a seven-under-par 65 to build a three-shot lead at the Hero World Challenge on Saturday as Tiger Woods continued his comeback with a 71.
A 15-time Major winner playing his first tournament since ankle surgery in April that followed his withdrawal from the Masters, Woods shook off a bogey-bogey start to be at even par, 16 strokes behind Scheffler, and tied for 16th in the 20-player event he hosts at Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas.
Woods said he’d been “pleasantly surprised” at how his body has held up, which was more of a concern than the state of his game.“I still have game,” he said. “It’s whether or not the body can do it.”
Woods, who turns 48 on Dec. 30, had ankle surgery in April on the same leg that was severely injured in a 2021 car crash. While his leg pain is gone, he said he still contends with chronic back pain, but said before the tournament he could play as much as once a month in 2024.
Scheffler, meanwhile, was in cruise control, starting the day tied for the lead with Jordan Spieth and seizing control with a 15-foot eagle at the third.
He added four birdies before he rolled in a 14-foot eagle at 15 to push his lead to four strokes over England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, who also signed for a 65.
“I played really well today, really solid the whole day,” said Scheffler, the 2022 Masters champion who has finished runner-up in this event the past two years.
“[It’s] nice to see some putts go in. These greens can be tough to putt at times, but I’m rolling it good.”
Fitzpatrick had climbed the leaderboard with four birdies on the front nine. After a double-bogey at the 11th he birdied 12 and 14 before draining a 47-foot eagle putt at 15.
He bogeyed 16, but closed with back-to-back birdies for 203. —AFP
