Woods finishes 17th at Hero World Challenge

Tiger Woods finished 17th in the elite field of 18 in the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Club (par-72) in Albany, Bahamas Sunday (local time). The 42-year-old golf legend shot 1-over-par 73, finishing at 1-under 287.

Still, Woods looked content. “It’s been quite an amazing year to go from where I’ve come from and now I can actually finally say I’m done playing for the year," he said. "We can sit back and really enjoy it."

Indeed, Woods had to face a serious crisis in his career for several years because of a back injury. The world’s No. 1 professional golfer saw his ranking plummet to No. 656 last year.

However, he made a remarkable return by finishing runner-up in the Valspar Championship in March, and clinched a victory in the Tour Championship, winning a title for the first time in five years and a month. He was ranked 14th in the world as of Sunday, a decline by one spot from a week ago but a huge ascension compared to a year ago.

“I’m not going to play as many as I did this year,” said Woods. “All I know is I played too much at the end of the year. That was just too much for my body to handle and I was not physically prepared for it. I hadn’t trained for that, so we’re going to make some adjustments for next year.” The American golfer’s schedule for next year has not been set, though he confirmed playing in the four majors and the Genesis Open next February.

Meanwhile, Jon Rahm of Spain won the Hero World Challenge with 20-under 268.


Heon-Jae Lee uni@donga.com