Tiger Woods showed off his body transformation when he arrived for the Hero World Challenge last week. The 47-year-old said that while he was unable to swing a club that didn’t mean he wasn’t hitting the weights, and it shows. The 15-time major winner strolled into the Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas for the final day of the Hero World Challenge Sunday, showing off his physique.
Woods donned a pair of grey basketball shorts and a tight-fitting black Nike vest top, which showed his bulging biceps as he headed towards the pavilion. And former professional and Golf Channel commentator Brandel Chamblee revealed the secret to Woods’ ripped body transformation, telling the broadcast that the 82-time winner on the PGA Tour has been working out at the break of dawn throughout his recovery.
Despite being unable to play until last week following ankle surgery in April, Woods has remained as focused and disciplined as ever. Chamblee claimed during the coverage of Round One of the Hero World Challenge that he’s aware of PGA Tour players who have received text messages from Woods at 4am saying: ‘I’m in the gym. What are you doing to get better?’ The 20-man field tournament, which Woods hosts, marked his first competitive event since he was forced to withdraw from The Masters in April with reaggravated plantar fasciitis.
He underwent successful surgery to fuse his subtalar two weeks later but despite being unable to hit the course, Woods has found other ways to improve his game. Woods himself admitted in his pre-tournament press conference that he had been hitting the weights as he opened up on his decision to make his comeback at last week’s event. ‘People don’t realize I was still lifting and still doing a bunch of other things too, in conjunction with the endurance part of it,’ he told reporters. ‘And I was hitting golf balls a lot, trying to get Charlie [his son] ready for the event.’
And his workouts appear to have helped get him in shape for his comeback. While Woods didn’t necessarily light up the course last week, he managed an even-par finish for 18th place. ‘I think I’ve come a long way from being a little bit rusty to playing four days and knocking off a lot of rust, which was great,’ Woods told Golf Channel after his final round on Sunday.
‘The physicality of actually playing and competing again – I haven’t done this in a while. It was nice to get out there with the guys and have some fun and compete. I just wish I could have played a little bit cleaner but there’s always next time.’ Woods revealed he’s targeting up to 12 tournaments in 2024, saying it seemed a ‘reasonable’ plan.
‘I think the best scenario would be maybe a tournament a month,’ he said last Tuesday. ‘I think that’s realistic. You would have to start maybe with the Genesis [in February], then something in March, maybe The Players. But we have a setup right now where the biggest events are one per month, so it sets itself up for that. Now, I need to get myself ready for all of that, I think this week is a big step in that direction.’
However, fans won’t have to wait until January to see Woods back in action as he is set to tee it up with his son Charlie, 14, at the PNC Championship next week with the father-son duo set to team up for a fourth time at the event
