Tiger Woods returned to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event for the first time in six years Wednesday and emerged a winner 3 and 1 over Aaron Wise.
Woods either led or was tied with the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for the entire match after winning the first hole. But it was a hard-fought victory for Woods, 43, over the 22-year-old Wise. Woods is ranked 13th in the tournament while Wise is 61st.
Here is some of what Woods had to say after his match in remarks made to Steve Sands of Golf Channel.
On the return to match play:
“I’ve played a lot of matches over the years. This was definitely one of the more emotional matches. We just kept . . . I don’t know how many holes were halved but there weren’t many. I was up early, then I was down. I’m up. Threw away one there with a three-putt. There was a lot of ebb and flow to this match. It’s not like we were both playing great golf. But somehow, I got the win.”
On using his experience to wear down Wise
“No. We weren’t playing that great today. We both struggled. I feel if this was stroke play, I’d be pretty far behind. But it was just beat the guy in front of you. And I was able to advance.”
