By Tim Dahlberg
Associated Press columnist
MARANA, Ariz. ó Tiger Woods had seven minutes to kill. For a player who plans his routine to the very second, it could have been unsettling.
Eight months away had taught him something about patience, though. He peeled a banana and calmly munched it as he waited for his turn on the first tee.
There were a few butterflies, but only because there always are. The day they go away, Woods says, is probably the day he will finally quit.
But the knee was fine, and the shots on the driving range felt good. An Aussie named Brendan Jones awaited, and Woods knew his opponent’s stomach had to be churning even more.
There couldn’t have been a better day to begin the task of restoring order to the golf world.
“It felt like nothing had changed,” Woods said. “It was business as usual.”
The official time was 12:09 p.m. Mountain Standard when Woods stood on mended knee with a 3-wood in his hand and the first fairway in front of him.
The swing was the same, and so were the shots. Unfortunately for Jones, so was the overwhelming will to win.
Two holes into his comeback, Woods was dominating again.
“As I walked off the first hole, there was just mayhem ó media, and everyone was just running,” Jones said. “I was walking in amongst everybody, and I heard one of the media there say, ‘All right, only another nine holes to go for a 10-and-8.’ And I gave him a bit of a spray. And then (Woods) eagled the second and I thought, ‘Well, maybe he’s right.’ ”
The will to compete was very much alive.
“I don’t go to an event that I don’t think I can win,” Woods said. “Why go? It doesn’t make any sense to me. So I entered this event with the same intention I do every event since I was a little boy, and that’s to win.”