GOLF ASIA 17there." Fowler was disappointed with
his par at the eighth, where he had
hoped to improve on his career-best
birdie streak. "Seven (birdies) was the
most I had made (in a row) before, so
I was really trying to get that eighth,"
he said. "Didn't want to get too greedy,
just tried to make it with good speed,
but ultimately left it short."
Jordan Spieth, tied for second to
start the round, fired a final-round 69
to share third with England's Tommy
Fleetwood, who signed for a 67. Woods
finished tied for ninth with Matt Kuchar
in the unofficial 18-man event that
benefits his charitable foundation.
A back-nine double-bogey and two
bogeys to finish took some wind out
of Woods's sails, but the 41-year-old
superstar, playing for the first time
since February after yet another back
surgery in April, found plenty to be
encouraged about.
'Bright future'
Most importantly, he said, he played
all week without pain. "Overall, I'm very
pleased. I showed some good signs,"
he said, adding that they pointed
toward "a bright future". Woods's
impressive display off the tee included
a monster drive at the par-four seventh
that led to his eagle. That was just
one of the shots that delighted an
enthusiastic gallery following the 14-
time major champion that included
Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal.
"I knew I was going to be able to
play all four rounds, that wasn't going
to be an issue," said Woods, who alsomissed all of the 2015-16 season with
back trouble. "The issue was how my
scoring was going to be, how was my
feel? How am I going to get used to
the adrenaline in my system, because
it's the first time in a while. That took
a little bit of time," added Woods, who
finished the week with rounds of 69,
68, 75 and 68. I was still scratchy
with my irons. I drove it pretty good all
week, made some good putts."
With one encouraging tournament
under his belt, Woods remained non-
committal as to his precise plans for- "I don't know what my schedule's
going to be, but my expectations are
we'll be playing next year. How many?
Where? I don't know yet, but we'll
figure it out."
Fowler, too, was thinking about next
year after following up his runner-up finish
in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba a few
weeks ago with his storming win. "It's nice
to see the game hang around," Fowler
said. "We can build on some things and
make next year a special one."