Tiger Woods Set to Debut New Sponsor and a Mix of Clubs at Hero World Challenge

Tiger Woods is set to make his return to the PGA Tour this week at the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Club in New Providence, Bahamas. There has been much speculation not only regarding the state of Woods’s game, but also what clubs he will be playing after Nike bailed on golf equipment in August.

According to USA Today’s Steve DiMeglio, Woods has been testing several different clubs since Nike’s decision, as we’ve already written about, and it appears like he’ll be playing TaylorMade woods, Nike irons, a Scotty Cameron putter, and Bridgestone balls.

"“The golf ball is the most important club in the bag,” Woods said. ” … It’s a lot of testing. But I’m getting my golf stamina back so I can do this.”"

Woods believes he made the right decision in pulling out of the Safeway Open and Turkish Airlines Open saying, “I had waited more than a year, so let’s wait a little more and get it right.”

"“It was a smart decision in the end to pull out of the tournaments. The competitor inside me wanted to go so badly, I was itching to go, I had been playing at home, and I thought I could get it around. I had played feeling worse and won golf tournaments. But I finally decided why rush … I had waited more than a year, so let’s wait a little more and get it right.”"

Even though he was itching to play, it appears that he’s learned his lesson from past mistakes and has decided that waiting until he was 100% ready was the best option.

Woods will also debut a new sponsor, Monster Energy, on his bag according to ESPN.

"Sources told ESPN that Woods will debut a Monster Energy logo on his bag at the Hero World Challenge, his foundation’s 18-player tournament in the Bahamas this week. His agent, Mark Steinberg, confirmed a new sponsor would debut, but did not confirm that it would be Monster. Monster officials did not immediately return requests for comment."

As for the state of his game, Woods told USA Today:

"“I’m ready to go,” Woods said. … “I have way more shots now, because I’ve played way more golf. I only had a handful of shots back then,” said Woods, who played nine holes at Albany shortly after he arrived on Saturday. “And you just saw a session where I hit everything. And I had control of everything. I can hit all the shots now, on call.”"

I guess we’ll find out on Thursday.

UPDATE: Here’s a video of Tiger’s swing.

" Too me, I don't think it's a good swing, the downswing looks very steep and narrow, and looks like he's very wary of his back #STP pic.twitter.com/XBG2aiDtlb — Secret Tour Pro (@secrettourpro) November 28, 2016 "