When he’s in the field, this Tiger Woods comeback has become a daily can’t-miss appointment. It’s not like the prior, depressing slogs and short-lived failures of comebacks in recent years. Tiger is getting better, stronger, and more consistent with each start and each round. Friday morning in Tampa is another opportunity to take it all in with the Masters less than a month away.
Valspar Championship 2018: Tiger Woods’ tee time, plus full pairings for Friday
Tiger’s remarkable comeback continues bright and early on Friday morning in Tampa.
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Woods added the Valspar Championship to his schedule just last week. He has not played here in 22 years so he had no strong sense of how to play the course or succeed. In Thursday’s first round, the wind was up and the field struggled to make any sort of movement into the red. A score under-par was excellent, and avoiding some high 70s number could be considered a success. Tiger made some mistakes, giving several shots back to this Copperhead Course, but he finished the round inside the dang top 10 at 1-under. He’s tied for 8th and the leading number is at 4-under.
Tiger’s round could have been better, but given the scoring conditions, he was thrilled being able to get out of there in the red. It was not without adventure, including two shots up against tree trunks in the pine straw of Innisbrook. But he’s right there after 18 holes, continuing the remarkable trend of “Tiger is suddenly a highly competitive golfer again.”
Woods will play Friday’s second round just after dawn. He had been catching the early-late Thursday-Friday draw in his first few starts of the year. But this week, he’s going late Thursday and early Friday. Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson are the playing partners again, and both would love to be where the Cat is on the leaderboard. Spieth is 5-over and Stenson is 3-over, struggling to play through the winds and piling up bogeys.
The trio will go at 7:56 a.m. ET in Tampa. They are the featured group on PGA Tour Live’s streaming service, so you can catch their full round there before Golf Channel takes over the afternoon coverage. So get your Friday morning going with some Tiger streaming — this comeback is worth watching. He’s doing something that I’m not sure we’re fully appreciating.
Here’s the full tee sheet for Friday’s second round at the Valspar Championship:
Off No. 1 tee:
- 6:50 a.m.: Alex Cejka, Scott Stallings, Sean O’Hair
- 7:01 a.m.: Ian Poulter, Colt Knost, Derek Fathauer
- 7:12 a.m.: Bill Haas, Geoff Ogilvy, Matthew Fitzpatrick
- 7:23 a.m.: Russell Knox, Nick Watney, Paul Casey
- 7:34 a.m.: Ted Potter, Jr., Mackenzie Hughes, Greg Chalmers
- 7:45 a.m.: Branden Grace, Brandt Snedeker, Jim Furyk
- 7:56 a.m.: Vaughn Taylor, Shane Lowry, Zach Johnson
- 8:07 a.m.: Si Woo Kim, Hudson Swafford, Matt Every
- 8:18 a.m.: Nick Taylor, Martin Laird, Kevin Na
- 8:29 a.m.: Ryan Palmer, Ollie Schniederjans, Dominic Bozzelli
- 8:40 a.m.: Sam Saunders, Nicholas Lindheim, Jimmy Stanger
- 8:51 a.m.: Trey Mullinax, Talor Gooch, Tyler Duncan
- 11:40 a.m.: J.B. Holmes, Chesson Hadley, Louis Oosthuizen
- 11:51 a.m.: Scott Brown, Rory Sabbatini, Richy Werenski
- 12:02 p.m.: Byeong Hun An, Harold Varner III, Kelly Kraft
- 12:13 p.m.: Ryan Armour, Jason Dufner, Peter Malnati
- 12:24 p.m.: Fabián Gómez, David Lingmerth, Luke Donald
- 12:35 p.m.: Gary Woodland, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy
- 12:46 p.m.: Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar
- 12:57 p.m.: Aaron Baddeley, Billy Hurley III, Ernie Els
- 1:08 p.m.: Camilo Villegas, Bud Cauley, Blayne Barber
- 1:19 p.m.: Robert Streb, Harris English, C.T. Pan
- 1:30 p.m.: Seamus Power, Stephan Jaeger, Sam Burns
- 1:41 p.m.: Jonathan Randolph, Tom Lovelady, Jack Maguire
Off No. 10 tee:
- 6:50 a.m.: Chez Reavie, Jamie Lovemark, Kevin Tway
- 7:01 a.m.: Retief Goosen, Martin Piller, Brandon Harkins
- 7:12 a.m.: Chad Campbell, Bob Estes, Tom Hoge
- 7:23 a.m.: Cameron Smith, Smylie Kaufman, Padraig Harrington
- 7:34 a.m.: Austin Cook, Bryson DeChambeau, Brian Stuard
- 7:45 a.m.: Adam Hadwin, Tony Finau, Charl Schwartzel
- 7:56 a.m.: Henrik Stenson, Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods
- 8:07 a.m.: Jimmy Walker, Graeme McDowell, Sangmoon Bae
- 8:18 a.m.: John Huh, Tyrone Van Aswegen, Ryan Blaum
- 8:29 a.m.: Kevin Streelman, Lucas Glover, Sung Kang
- 8:40 a.m.: Brice Garnett, Sam Ryder, T.J. Vogel
- 8:51 a.m.: Aaron Wise, Xinjun Zhang, Dylan Meyer
- 11:40 a.m.: Chris Couch, Martin Flores, Beau Hossler
- 11:51 a.m.: Ben Martin, Whee Kim, Michael Kim
- 12:02 p.m.: Jason Kokrak, Luke List, Patrick Rodgers
- 12:13 p.m.: Ryan Moore, Davis Love III, Charles Howell III
- 12:24 p.m.: Rod Pampling, William McGirt, Stewart Cink
- 12:35 p.m.: Billy Horschel, D.A. Points, Brian Gay
- 12:46 p.m.: Grayson Murray, Patrick Reed, Chris Kirk
- 12:57 p.m.: Charley Hoffman, Webb Simpson, Steve Stricker
- 1:08 p.m.: J.J. Henry, Danny Lee, Keegan Bradley
- 1:19 p.m.: Troy Merritt, Robert Garrigus, Ross Fisher
- 1:30 p.m.: Corey Conners, Zecheng Dou, Rod Perry
- 1:41 p.m.: Abraham Ancer, Ben Silverman, Ty Strafaci
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