{"id":676,"date":"2020-12-11T20:04:40","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T20:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/sierra-leone\/?p=676"},"modified":"2020-12-11T20:04:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T20:04:40","slug":"tiger-woods-set-for-pga-tour-return-at-memorial-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/tiger-woods-set-for-pga-tour-return-at-memorial-tournament","title":{"rendered":"Tiger Woods set for PGA Tour return at Memorial Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Sierra-Leone<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Tiger Woods is back on the tee. There is little need to overcomplicate the storyline beyond that.<\/p>\n

The 82-time PGA Tour winner and the world\u2019s most talked-about player is set to make his much-anticipated return this week at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, his first appearance since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the sport in mid-March.<\/p>\n

When Woods launches his opening ball off the tee Thursday at Muirfield Village, it will be his first competitive start in five months, dating back to the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in February. Woods, who has won this event five times in his career, will be part of a featured grouping Thursday and Friday alongside Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great to be back,\u201d Woods said Tuesday. \u201cI hadn\u2019t played on a tournament venue in a while, and it\u2019s been since February, so it\u2019s been a long time for me. Then to get out there and to play with Justin Thomas today was a bunch of fun. It\u2019s certainly a different world, different environment that we\u2019re in. To play practice rounds like this and to watch as the Tour has evolved and started back and to see no fans, it\u2019s just a very different world out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golf has eagerly awaited Woods\u2019 return since he first displayed a midseason form in May at Capital One\u2019s The Match: Champions for Charity. Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Woods said that performance briefly left him considering an earlier return to competition before ultimately opting against it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did consider playing, trying to figure out if I should play or not. But I just felt it was better to stay at home and be safe,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m used to playing with lots of people around me or having lots of people have a direct line to me, and that puts not only myself in danger but my friends and family. I\u2019ve just been at home practicing and social distancing and being away from a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods watched from afar as the Tour worked through its new health and safety protocols, which include no on-site fans and frequent COVID-19 testing throughout the week. Confidence in those measures are what ultimately brought him to Ohio this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the risk that I\u2019m taking, that\u2019s the risk that all of us are now taking,\u201d Woods said. \u201cI know the TOUR has done a fantastic job of setting up the safety and trying to ensure that all of us are protected and are safe, but it is a risk that we are now undertaking when we walk on the property and are around individuals that you don\u2019t know where they\u2019ve been or what they\u2019ve been doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the screening, the testing we\u2019ve done, the protections that we\u2019ve tried to implement on the Tour have shown that we\u2019ve had to make adjustments, but it\u2019s a risk that I\u2019m willing to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, there was ample time for Woods to practice during the hiatus at his home course, Medalist Golf Club, but there was also plenty of backyard tennis with his children, Sam and Charlie, and quiet moments to read horror novels by one of his favorite authors, Dean Koontz.<\/p>\n

But now it\u2019s back to work, and a chance to erase the memories of his last competitive start. When golf fans last saw Woods on Tour, he finished last among players to make the cut at 11-over and closed with rounds of 76 and 77 the final two days.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically, I was very stiff in Los Angeles, and I was not moving that well,\u201d he said. \u201cBack was just not quite loose, it was cold, I wasn\u2019t hitting the ball very far, wasn\u2019t playing very well, and consequently I finished dead last.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2026 I feel so much better than I did then. I\u2019ve been able to train and concentrate on getting back up to speed and back up to tournament speed, so how I was moving at The Match and being able to progress since then, being out here today and being able to play with J.T., it was a lot of fun for both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that won\u2019t be in his way are the throngs of fans sure to follow him during an event, as the Tour will remain closed off to fans through at least the end of the FedExCup Playoffs in August.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that will bring some comfortable familiarity to Woods, who won The ZOZO Championship in November after surging into a second-round lead that was played without fans due to weather. That win coincidentally also came after a lengthy two-month layoff.<\/p>\n

Is a repeat performance in the cards this week?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me in particular, I\u2019m going to have to just put my head down and play,\u201d Woods said. \u201cBut it\u2019s going to be different, there\u2019s no doubt about it. For most of my career, pretty much almost every competitive playing round that I\u2019ve been involved in, I\u2019ve had people around me, spectators yelling, a lot of movement inside the gallery with camera crews and media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching the players play over the last few weeks, that hasn\u2019t been the case, and that\u2019s very different, and for the players that are a little bit older and that have played out here for a long time and have experienced it, it is very different.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. Tiger Woods is back on the tee. There is little need to overcomplicate the storyline beyond that. The 82-time PGA Tour winner and the world\u2019s most talked-about player is set to make his much-anticipated return this week at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, his first appearance since the COVID-19 pandemic shut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[291,292],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"\nTiger Woods set for PGA Tour return at Memorial Tournament - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/tiger-woods-set-for-pga-tour-return-at-memorial-tournament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tiger Woods set for PGA Tour return at Memorial Tournament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. Tiger Woods is back on the tee. There is little need to overcomplicate the storyline beyond that. 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