Tiger Woods back on the prowl for Masters glory

Woods showed no ill effects to his recent Achilles injury Tiger Woods showed he is fit and raring to go ahead of the Masters after making his return from an Achilles injury at the $2.15 million Tavistock Cup last night. The American former world Nom1 joined Justin Rose in a nine-under par 63 four-ball pairing for Team Albany. Eight days after withdrawing with tendon tightness from the final round of the World Golf Championships event at Doral, Woods teed off in the 36-hole challenge between rival clubs, open only to club members and invited guests.
Showing no apparent limp, Woods opened with back-to-back birdies, added two more before the turn, hit an approach at 10 to five feet before Rose birdied and pitched from a bunker within inches from the cup for a birdie at 11.
Woods said: “I did the smart thing and prudent thing this time, hence I’m back in a week. I’ve done it before and played through not just pain, but injury and set myself back quite a bit. That’s what I did last year and missed two major championships because of it.
“I want to be ready for Augusta (the US Masters starts two weeks on Thursday). I have to do the right thing. Unfortunately there are times when I’ve played when I probably shouldn’t have and it’s cost me.”
Woods, ranked 18th in the world, has not won any tour-sanctioned event since the 2009 Australian Masters, just before the start of his infamous sex scandal, and has not won a major crown since limping through a playoff to capture the 2008 US Open.
But Woods has been in solid recent form. He won the World Golf Challenge charity event he hosts last December, shared third at Abu Dhabi to open the 2012 season and shared second at the Honda Classic earlier this month after shooting a 62 on Sunday, the best final round of his illustrious career.
The US duo of Bo Van Pelt and Sean O’Hair fired 11 birdies and an eagle at the par-5 15th for the low round of any pairing at 13-under 59. Four duos were next at nine-under including Woods and Rose, Americans Bubba Watson and Charles Howell for Isleworth and Lake Nona pairs Ben Curtis of the United States and Peter Hanson of Sweden and Ross Fisher of England and Retief Goosen of South Africa.
Albany’s South African duo of Ernie Els and Tim Clark were eight-under 64 while Woods’s other teammates, South African Trevor Immelman and England’s Ian Poulter, finished at six-under 66 in the final group.