Tiger Woods 'knocks off rust' at World Hero Challenge

Competing for the first time since undergoing ankle surgery after withdrawing from the Masters in April, Woods carded a closing 72 in the Bahamas to finish level par for the week and 18th in the 20-man field.

The 47-year-old recovered from a double bogey on the third with three birdies in the next four holes and also birdied the 14th and 15th after dropping shots on the eighth and 11th.

"I've come a long way," Woods told broadcaster NBC.

"From being a little bit rusty to playing four days and knocked off a lot of rust which was great, and just the physicality of actually playing and competing again - I haven't done this in a while.

"It was nice to get out here with the guys, have some fun and compete. I wish I would have played a little cleaner but there's always next time."

Asked about his pre-tournament prediction that he could be able to play one tournament a month in 2024, Woods said, "If you ask me right now I'm a little bit sore.

"But once a month seems reasonable. It gives me a couple of weeks to recover, a week to tune up.

"Maybe I can get into a rhythm. That's what the plan was going into next year and I don't see why that would change."

In a separate interview, Woods added: "Every day I got faster into the round. The first day took me a while to get a handle on it, second day was faster, today was right away.

"And that's eventually, when I play on a regular basis, that's normally how it is.

"The best part of the week is the way I drove it. I drove it on pretty much a string all week. Granted, these fairways are big.

"I felt like I had my ball speed up, which was nice, and I was hitting the middle of the face the entire week, which is nice.

"So it's not like I have to go and try and find something the next few weeks or something going into next year; what I've been working on is right there."

Australian Associated Press