NASSAU, Bahamas — Tiger Woods has gone through two back surgeries since he last played a golf tournament 15 months ago. He had another back surgery that knocked him out of the Masters for the first time in 2014. He had four knee surgeries before that.
None of that matters to Ernie Els when Woods returns to competition this week.
Els is more curious about what’s going on in his head.
“The talent’s there. It’s been proven. It doesn’t go away,” Els said. “It’s what you think of yourself. It’s what you think where you are. We look at this great player, but he’s not seeing the same stuff in his own mind. A lot of us are like that. When you’ve achieved as much as he has … it’s a shock to the system not to play as good as you have been. To look at other people looking at you like, ‘Hey, you’re not the same guy,’ that’s hard to take.”
Els, perhaps more than any other player, has a deep golfing connection with Woods.
He was the player Woods sought out 20 years ago at Royal Lytham &St. Annes when deciding whether to turn pro. They had so many meaningful battles, and Woods almost always got the better of him. Els was runner-up to Woods seven times, the most of any player.
Els designed the Albany golf course where Woods comes back from the longest layoff of his career. He plans to be in the Bahamas, and he is as eager as anyone else to see how a guy who won 79 times on the PGA Tour, including 14 majors, stacks up against a generation that grew up in awe of how Woods played golf.
The Hero World Challenge is a holiday tournament with an 18-man field and no cut. Even so, it commands as much attention as any tournament this year. Woods has been a star attraction his entire career, and the appetite is even stronger after an absence that dates to Aug. 23, 2015.
“I can’t wait to watch, either, just to see him play,” Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III said. “The last time I saw him play, I won. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. I’ve seen his swing. I’ve seen him on video. He’s sent me clips, and I’ve heard the description of how he feels. I’m excited to see him play.”
“You’ve got to start somewhere,” he added. “And I want to see the start.”
