MARANA, Ariz. — Tiger Woods shot a smooth little 60.
Nice comeback.
It must be noted that Tiger played only 16 holes on Wednesday in the Accenture Match Play Championship, and several putts were conceded by his opponent, and he “hit a couple of loose shots,” and he really wasn’t pressed by Brendan Jones, and he didn’t have to hook a 5-iron out of a rattlesnake nest around a cactus and over a concession stand.
But he is the brand new, same old Tiger Woods.
If anybody believed Tiger showed up just to remove some Tin Man-like rust and take a stroll in the desert, stop believing it.
“I don’t go to an event that I don’t think I can win. Why go? It doesn’t make any sense to me. So I entered this event with the same intention I do every event since I was a little boy, and that’s to win,” Woods said after he bracketed B. Jones in the Bobby Jones Bracket.
All Tiger did in his first two holes was go birdie-eagle (putt given), taking up right where he left off eight months ago in the U.S. Open. “I got off to the ideal start.” You think? Even Genghis Khan had a couple of tuneup battles after his long layoff.
Tiger drove the par-4 15th, poured in a long birdie putt, reached the green in two on No. 2 and did a bunch of his terrific Tiger stuff.
But his shot of the day you didn’t see on TV or read about on the Internet.
After Tiger finished tinkering on the putting green with 6-footers before the match, he was informed that his 12:02 tee time was delayed (six minutes). So he pulled the 3-wood out of his bag, walked over to the edge of the green, teed up a ball and whacked a drive long and far, pretty as you please, toward the practice range. I stood a few feet away, stunned.
No (unplayable) lie.
That’s the kind of stunt that would get me kicked off a public course and you suspended at the country club. But he’s Tiger. He then took a banana out of his bag. He didn’t hit it. He ate it en route to the first tee.
I went looking for the ball. Lost ball. It’s probably still embedded in a cactus or an automobile windshield.
Woods’ first business swing of 2009, with that 3-wood, burned down the right side of the fairway. His first iron landed on the green within 6 feet. His first putt (a duplicate of the putts he had been practicing minutes before) slid in.
Tiger Woods has returned.
Following another delay (20 minutes) at the 315-yard (downwind) 15th hole, Tiger did a stretching exercise, then lasered the 3-wood onto the green about 30 feet short.
Tim Clark, in the pairing behind, watched Tiger’s ball with jealousy and said, “He missed it.” Clark won’t be as sarcastic today. He plays Woods beginning at 12:02. “If I lose, no big deal. If I win, great,” Clark said later.
A couple of Tiger’s most prominent adversaries — Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh — advanced, and a couple of others — Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington lost — but the opening round of the match play championship at the ritzy resort golf club was completely about Tiger. He was surrounded by thousands, the rest by dozens.
At one point on the front nine Tiger munched on trail mix. His trip out sort of turned into a trail mix. The astonishing beginning dipped with three bogeys and another birdie, and Tiger had a 1-under-par 35 (with gimmes) and a two-hole advantage over the Australian, who was grinding to stay close.
No sweat in the 87-degree heat of the desert outside Tucson.
Jones did make a birdie, then an eagle when his drive rolled past Tiger’s on the 15th and settled closer. But there wasn’t any real, Rocco kind of drama.
“It just came back down to playing the game again, and that felt good,” Tiger said.
Tiger is different in some ways. He didn’t wince after long iron shots; his knee didn’t collapse after drives, and his body didn’t stop short of a full turn. He is not associated with Buick any more. AT&T is the name on the bag now, and he has a son. But he is no different in other ways. He pumped his fist after his second shot on the second hole; he smiled after making putts; and he took off his cap and shook hands with the loser after the triumph was earned. And he has a different car and cellphone.
He wasn’t affected by the heat, the roller-coaster fairways, the sand and gravel, the “slowest greens I’ve ever played in a Tour event” or the lengthiest absence of his life away from the game.
On Wednesday night Tiger planned to “put ice” on his left knee and probably put ice in an adult beverage.
“It doesn’t feel like I’ve been away.” But he has, and golf felt it.
With two good legs, Tiger Woods actually may shoot a full-round 60 this year. Start believing it.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
