Tiger Woods didn’t compete in this week’s Hero World Challenge, but he still made his presence felt.
Woods, who has been hosting the event in Albany all week, hinted at some changes in the direction of the PGA Tour during his pre-tournament news conference. He stalked the range before the game on Saturday, visiting with competitors including Sweden’s Alex Nolen, who chatted with him and asked questions about his swing.
We’ve seen and heard plenty of evidence this week of Woods’ commitment to the modern game. Read how Woods describes his appreciation for world No. 1 Scotty Scheffler’s game:
“Scottie’s game? Yeah, I really enjoyed watching him hit the ball, the shape of his shot, the trajectory, his window changes, distance control, misses in the right spots, right spin at certain pin locations,” Woods said. “These are subtle things that mean a lot over the course of 72 holes. That’s impressive to me. If you don’t have trajectory control, you can’t control distance. It was fun to watch to see him moving up and down in different windows, using the wind, fighting the wind and controlling spin.”
(This was only part of his answer.)
Nolen is a great guy to watch in practice because of his unique pre-snap movement and his tendency to dig the ball out of the dirt. He’s also at a fascinating stage in his career, serving as assistant captain of this year’s European Ryder Cup team but also falling just short of making it on his own.
Whatever Woods said to Nolen, it had a positive impact: He started with a birdie and an eagle in par and shot a penultimate round of 67 at 5 under. He will start Sunday’s final round tied for third, three shots behind Sepp Straka and two shots behind world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Noren won DP World Tour titles in August and September and worked his way into the top 20 in the world; another top result would cap off a year in which he finished third in the finals.
“Last year I took a lot of time off and worked a lot on the game, but this year I’m trying to play more games at the end of the season,” Nolen said. “You’ll see where it goes next year. Then I have about a month and a half to fix the things I don’t like now and fine-tune things.”
As for his meeting with Woods? Nolen could only smile bitterly.
“Yeah, it’s awesome. I grew up idolizing tigers,” he said. “It was the perfect time of my life. I was 18 in 2000, I was 16 in ’98 and he kind of came on. So, yeah, I mean, I have a lot of respect and admiration for him.
“Seeing him out there asking questions – not that he’s asking questions for himself [benefit]but I think he just loves golf and it’s a pleasure to talk to him. “
