Woods happy to be back

Tiger Woods has spoken at his delight at playing competitive golf again despite finishing 14 shots behind winner Hideki Matsuyama at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

Woods had moved into contention with a superb 65 on Friday but he was unable to keep up the pressure on his first tournament in over 15 months, carding a 76 in the final round to finish 15th.

The 14-time major winner carded three double bogeys, three bogeys and five birdies on Sunday and, while it was not the finish he was hoping for, the 40-year-old admitted he was just happy to be back playing again.

"There were some pretty dire times when I couldn't move. You just lay there and you can't move - those are scary times," Woods explained.

"It's great to be back playing against the best players in the world, but unfortunately I made a lot of mistakes this week. I made some poor decisions.

"Getting my lights back and my body back and focusing for a long period of time - these are things I've missed for a year and a half.

"I made some birdies this week, which is nice. I always want to be aggressive, but I made some bad mistakes - you can't make two sevens.

"The pain and issues I've had... it was just rough."

Matsuyama continued a fine run of form as he carded a final round 73 to finish two clear of Henrik Stenson with Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson tied for third, three shots further back.

The victory is Matsuyama's fourth title in two months following his wins at the Japan Open, the World Golf Championships HSBC Champions and the Taiheiyo Masters.

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