Tiger Woods finally claimed his first victory on the PGA Tour in nearly five years on Wednesday at Quail Hollow. Unfortunately, it was just the pro-am.
Woods is making his first tournament appearance since the Masters in early April, where he finished one over in a tie for 32nd. On Wednesday, Tiger participated in the pro-am alongside four amateurs: Gregg Hendrix, the executive VP of The SEFA Group; Scott Lampe, the CFO and VP of Hendrick Motorsports; and 17-year-old Shahbaz Hashmi, who earned his spot by winning the First Tee’s essay writing contest.
The group teamed together to shoot a composite score of 56, one shot better than Xander Schauffele’s group. Woods enlisted the help of a new custom set of TaylorMade irons in what some observers have called one of his best practice rounds so far this year.
One interesting nugget: despite playing on Tour since 1996, this might be the first time Woods has won a PGA Tour pro-am. Woods’s spokesman did not immediately verify Woods’s pro-am record, but the GC Tiger Tracker Twitter feed reports that history was likely made.
Not sure if I want to jinx this, but Tiger’s group is leading the pro-am. He once told Tracker that he’d never won a pro-am. #Wednesday’sAreForPractice
— Tiger Tracker (@GCTigerTracker) May 2, 2018
Tiger begins the first round of the real tournament at 12:50 p.m. on Thursday.