Greg Norman not buying hysteria of Tiger’s comeback

While social media was going crazy during Tiger Woods’ successful comeback at the Hero World Challenge last week, Greg Norman, too, was watching on with interest.

And, while the 62-year-old Aussie was impressed with the way Woods played in the Bahamas – finishing T9 in the 18-man field with three rounds in the 60s – he isn’t reading too much into what he witnessed.

Norman believes the strength of Woods’ comeback will only become apparent once he begins playing a full schedule to see what impact it will have on his body.

“You just hope it just continues on for him because a lot of the stuff he’s done has been self-inflicted, but a lot of the stuff that he’s going through now is more, you know, the wear and tear of the body hitting a lot of golf balls.

“Being a power player, your body breaks down, and that’s going to continue to be there because he just got ready to play one event, which was an 18-man field, right? 

“When you start getting up in a 156-man field and the golf courses are a little bit more difficult than Albany, with a lot more rough out there, he’s got to manage his expectations.

“Instead of trying to power a 7-iron out of the rough 220 yards, your body may – you do that a few times, you never know what’s going to happen after that.”

Norman continued by adding that Woods must block out what hopes his fans have regarding his comeback and not get carried away if he wants to prolong his career.

“I hope he manages his expectations more than everybody else’s expectations being, ‘He’s going to come back and be the Tiger of the past’. I think he still has a little bit of time on his side, but not a whole lot.”