Tiger Woods: Winning is secondary at the Hero World Challenge

As Tiger Woods embarks on yet another return to PGA TOUR action, for the first time ever, winning isn’t the only thing he’s focused on.

It’s almost impossible to imagine, but it’s been 21 years since Tiger Woods burst onto the PGA TOUR scene. In 1996, he was still a brash young star on the rise, but he wasn’t afraid to let us all know what he was planning.

"“I’ve always figured that why go to a tournament if you’re not going there to try and win? There’s really no point in even going,” Woods said to Curtis Strange. “That’s the attitude I’ve had my entire life, and that’s the attitude I will always have. As I’ve explained to my dad, second sucks. Third is even worse. I want to win. That’s my nature.”"

This week, at the Hero World Challenge, there are just 18 players in the field at Albany. For the first time in nearly a year, Woods is one of them. And somehow, this time at least, he needs to realize that maybe, just maybe, second doesn’t suck that bad. Neither does third, really.

I’ve said extensively that we need to keep our expectations ultra-low for Woods this week, but even more, he does too.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any significant population of golf fans who aren’t happy to have Woods back. As polarizing as he can be, with his once-sterling image entirely shattered, we actually have the best view of Woods – both the golfer and the man – that we ever have.

Tiger Woods has nothing to prove – other than his health

Listen, Woods has nothing left to prove in his legendary career, and even if he won’t admit it, he knows it’s true. And while I don’t doubt for a second that Tiger still wants to – and believes he can – win everything, he has to know that’s not as important right now.

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Sure, he’d turn the golf world on its ear with a victory at Albany. Twitter would absolutely explode, and every drive-time sports-talk show would be discussing his Masters odds on Monday. Of course, there’s one big catch there.

He has to actually get to the Masters first.

I’m about as happy as you can be to have Tiger back…again. But first things first, he needs to make it through 72 holes unscathed. I honestly don’t care if Tiger finishes dead last, as long as he sinks the last putt on Sunday without clutching at his back or knees. If he makes not one, but two, three, four consecutive starts (and finishes) as planned.

When that happens, then we can really get excited. And I’m more than happy to wait if that’s what we’ll get in the new year.

Next: Hero World Challenge Power Rankings

What do you expect from Tiger in his return to action at the Hero World Challenge? Let us know in the comments below, or reach us on Twitter and Facebook @ProGolfNow.

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