Tiger Woods shot a second round two-under-par 70, admitting a promising start “stalled” at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
Woods, 47, sunk four birdies in the opening nine holes at Albany, before three bogeys in the final six to finish on one over overall.
The 15-time major champion is competing for the first time since withdrawing from the Masters in April with injury.
“It was better than yesterday, for sure,” said Woods.
“The start was better, the middle part of the round was better.
“I missed a couple putts there towards the end I thought would have kept the round going and unfortunately it kind of stalled out a little bit.”
Woods, who had a three-over-par 75 in his first round, is 15th on the 20-player leaderboard, 10 shots behind fellow Americans Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth who lead the way on nine under.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick is three shots further back, tied in fifth with Americans Tony Finau and Collin Morikawa.
Woods says that physical and mental fatigue contributed to his form tailing off in the latter half of his round.
“It’s all of the above. I just haven’t done it. I haven’t played in six months,” he said.
“Things are not as sharp as they normally would be. There has certainly been some good in there and I have just got to make sure that the good is more consistent than it has been.
“I can play at home, I can walk, beaches, and do all those things. But it’s different when you’re at game speed.
“The mind’s racing more, the anxiety, the emotions are just different. You can always drop a ball at home, no big deal. Here it’s going to cost you.”
Earlier this year, Woods had fusion surgery on a bone in his ankle to address post-traumatic arthritis following the 2021 car crash that kept him out of golf for nearly 14 months.
“Other things are bugging me and bothering me, but the ankle’s fine,” said Woods.
“This week is a great beta test to figure out what I can do, and what the plan is going forward.
“To analyse what it’s like to compete and play and the things I need to strengthen and work on in the gym to be ready for next season.”
