Woods right at home in Zozo Championship title defence
California’s Sherwood Country Club, site of six Woods' victories, set to host Japanese event
By Chris Cox/PGA Tour
It wasn’t supposed to end like this for Tiger Woods. Not here at Sherwood Country Club in California. How could it?
For 15 years, Woods called this place in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains his home away from home.
And for good reason, too. On six different occasions, the World Golf hall of famer departed here a winner, beginning in 1999 with a win over David Duval in primetime TV and continuing five more times between 2001 and 2011 at his World Challenge event.
So, when significant changes to the autumn portion of the PGA Tour schedule required Woods to relocate his World Challenge tournament to a more centralised location, a record crowd of nearly 25,000 turned out one last time to watch him leave Sherwood a winner.
It was the storybook ending everyone felt certain would be told for the No 1 player in the world.
Except it didn’t. Instead, Zach Johnson erased a four-shot deficit with eight holes to play, a comeback he capped at the 72nd with an amazing hole out for par from a drop area, which forced a playoff. Johnson would go on to win on the first extra hole when Woods missed a five-footer for par to extend the playoff, a stark turnaround from the previous year when it was Woods who birdied the final two holes to erase Johnson’s one-shot advantage.
Johnson said: “I love this place. I've got two seconds and now a win, so I love Sherwood.
“I'll certainly miss this golf course. I like it because there’s a lot of risk reward. There’s a lot of strategy involved in where you hit it and how you hit it. I don’t feel like it favours the longest guy, necessarily.”
Now, seven years later, Woods will finally get his chance at redemption when the Zozo Championship temporarily calls Sherwood home this month.
The second-year event, which Woods won in Japan last year for his record-tying 82nd PGA Tour victory, was moved to California when officials from the PGA Tour and Zozo Incorporated determined that the unprecedented challenges of traveling to Japan amidst the covid-19 pandemic were too much to overcome this season.
PGA general manager and Sherwood chief executive Rob Oosterhuis said: “Sherwood Country Club and its members are honoured to host this year’s Zozo Championship at Sherwood and welcome golf’s greatest players as our guests for the week.''
Woods, of course, understands this Jack Nicklaus-designed course better than almost anyone. And that intimate knowledge should make him an early favourite to successfully defend his Zozo Championship title.
But more importantly, Sherwood and its residents provided Woods with the early support he needed to grow his TGR Foundation into a vehicle for larger community outreach. That, more than anything, endeared the facility and its members to Woods.
Said Woods in 2013: “Sherwood, the board here, all the volunteers that come out and support us in sunshine, rain, wind, cold or perfect sunny days.
“They come out to support our event and have made this as special as it has been. I’d say, quite frankly, if we didn’t have this event, we wouldn’t have the learning centre in Orange County.
“We wouldn’t have been able to open learning centres around the country. This event has been our mainstay over the years, and it’s allowed us a platform to talk about what we’re trying to do for kids.”
That backing is what made Woods’ final-round defeat in 2013 all the more painful. Is a chance at redemption and a record-breaking 83rd tour victory in the cards this time?
Woods made just seven starts during the 2019-20 PGA Tour season, winning in his debut at Zozo before carding a tie for ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open in late-January. But the season ended with little fanfare beyond that for the 44-year-old, who finished no better than a tie for 37th in any of the four starts he made following the Tour’s return to play in June.
He ended the season by shooting 11-over across four rounds at the BMW Championship, tying for 51st and failing to make the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. His first start of the 2020-21 campaign would come two weeks later at the US Open, in which he failed to make the cut.
“(I’m) trying to clean up my rounds and trying to miss the golf ball in the correct spots,” Woods said after the BMW Championship.
And while returning to the friendly confines of Sherwood Country Club may prove useful to Woods, the competition expected to stand in his way should be stronger than ever. Instead of the customary 18-player field at the World Challenge, Woods will have to contend with a stacked 78-man field, primarily comprised of the top 60 players from the previous season’s FedExCup standings.
That includes Dustin Johnson, who won both The Northern Trust and Tour Championship to take home his first career FedExCup. The 23-time PGA Tour winner just so happens to hold the course record at Sherwood, a 61 in 2014 while playing alongside his father-in-law and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, one of several celebrity members at Sherwood.
“I'm definitely playing probably the best I’ve ever played,” Johnson said after winning at East Lake. “I really feel like everything is dialed in pretty well.”
Tiger Woods watches his shot at the sixth tee during the final round of The Zozo Championship he won in Japan last year when he posted 82nd PGA Tour victory. Photo credit: Ben Jared/PGA Tour.