On Tuesday, Tiger Woods made his first look of the week at Riviera.
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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Tiger Woods gingerly walked up the steps behind the 18th inexperienced at Riviera Country Club Tuesday. Behind him there was a military of media members, Tour officers and help workers.
The temperatures hovered round 60 many of the morning, but sweat nonetheless dripped from Woods’ brow. He was clad head-to-toe in black clothes from his new model — Sun Day Red — which he’d revealed to the world the evening earlier than. This was our first have a look at the brand new clothes line in motion, and the 2024 debut of Woods on the course.
Since withdrawing from the Masters final April, Woods has seen restricted motion. He teed it up in December on the Hero World Challenge (a foolish season occasion he hosts) in addition to the PNC Championship, but followers haven’t seen him in an official event since he known as it quits in the course of the third spherical at Augusta. That all adjustments this week on the Genesis Invitational.
Woods, 48, stated in December he’d hoped to play a event a month in 2024. The Genesis was all the time the logical start line in that campaign. Sprinkle in an occasion in the course of the Florida swing, make a journey to Augusta after which tee it up within the last three majors and Woods may have saved his pledge.
“We have set up right now the biggest events are one per month; it sets itself up for that,” he stated on the Hero World Challenge. “Now, I need to get myself ready for all that.”
Of course, his schedule all relies on his well being. If Woods is in as a lot ache as he was ultimately yr’s Masters, one other hiatus from the sport will likely be within the works. With a little damage luck, although, golf followers can anticipate a wholesome dose of Woods in 2024.
Tuesday’s nine-hole apply spherical was step one in that journey. And whereas his well being standing stays unknown (he had a noticeable gait towards the tip of the spherical), there have been some clues as to the standing of his sport.
GOLF.com was available to observe a lot of Woods’ return to the course, and we took loads of movies of the 15-time main winner’s swing. Afterward, we enlisted the assistance of GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood to interrupt all of it down.
Tiger Woods’ new swing
To the untrained eye, the swing Woods gamed on Tuesday is similar to the one we’ve seen lately. But once you look underneath the hood, issues are usually not fairly working as they need to.
“He just doesn’t look sharp,” Yarwood says. “He looks like a player who hasn’t played much. It looks a little untidy here and there compared to normal.”
SETUP
Consistency begins with a good setup; sadly, Woods’ setup wasn’t as essentially sound as regular on Tuesday.
“His shoulders are open a little bit,” Yarwood says. “His posture isn’t quite as solid as we’ve seen in the past, either.”
For somebody who’s coming off a lengthy layoff, these points are usually not out of the peculiar. The fundamentals are the inspiration of a good swing, but they’re usually exhausting to good after a very long time away.
BACKSWING
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Woods’ takeaway is on airplane to the highest of the backswing, but on the high his swing will get a little longer and narrower than regular.
“At the top, he’s almost beyond parallel,” Yarwood says. “Which is longer than he normally has it.”
DOWNSWING
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As Woods makes his downswing towards the ball, the shaft begins to get steep and his fingers observe away from his physique. Then, the clubhead will get caught a bit behind his physique. This throws off his sequencing and forces him to depend on timing.
IMPACT
The solely factor that issues within the swing is the clubface in the meanwhile of affect. But usually, the strikes we make in the course of the different components of the swing put us in spots that make squaring up the clubface troublesome. In Woods’ case, his swing forces him to flip his fingers at affect to sq. up the face.
“Quite often if you get the club stuck, you have to flip it on the way through to try and save it,” Yarwood says. “He can’t ‘close the door’ fast enough or consistently enough. He’s either going to ‘leave the door open’ and it’s going to go right, or ‘close the door too fast’ and it’ll go left.”
In different phrases, he’s at risk of the dreaded two-way miss.
RESULT
Although Yarwood analyzed solely a few swings from Woods’ apply spherical, his assessments had been largely correct. Woods did battle with a two-way miss Tuesday, and his usually rock-solid ball placing was absent. Can Woods shake off the rust and discover the outdated magic when play begins in earnest? We’ll discover out when he makes his return to competitors at 11:54 a.m. native time Thursday.
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