Tiger’s not playing but he has put together a stout 20-man lineup.
The 2024 Hero World Challenge is almost here.
Tiger Woods is a five-time past champion of the event but he’s only hosting this year. He is still unable to compete since he had microdecompression surgery on his lower back Sept. 13 to relieve nerve impingement and back pain. He hasn’t announced when he plans to try to play again.
He has put together a stout 20-man lineup, however, headlined by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. He’s playing alongside Hero first-timer Sahith Theegala.
The four-day, 72-hole stroke play event has a $5 million purse and a $1 million first-place prize.
From Thursday’s first-round starting times as well as TV information, here’s what you need to know about the 2024 Hero World Challenge. All times listed are ET.
Hero World Challenge Thursday tee times
Time
Players
10:46 a.m.
Aaron Rai, Matthieu Pavon
10:57 a.m.
Brian Harman, Russell Henley
11:08 a.m.
Cameron Young, Sepp Straka
11:19 a.m.
Robert MacIntyre, Akshay Bhatia
11:30 a.m.
Sungjae Im, Tom Kim
11:41 a.m.
Nick Dunlap, Sam Burns
11:52 a.m.
Ludvig Aberg, Jason Day
12:03 p.m.
Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay
12:14 p.m.
Scottie Scheffler, Sahith Theegala
12:25 p.m.
Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley
How to watch 2024 Hero World Challenge
Golf Channel, NBC and Peacock will have live coverage of all four days of the 2024 Hero. Golf Channel will have all four days while NBC picks up the third and final rounds.
1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
Friday, Dec. 6
1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
Saturday, Dec. 7
12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
2:30 to 5 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock/NBC Sports app
Sunday, Dec. 8
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
1:30 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock/NBC Sports app
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Scheffler’s putter was hot all week. He didn’t miss a putt inside five feet until the 71st hole.
NASSAU, Bahamas – Scottie Scheffler put a bow on his season before the holidays with his first win since March, and put the PGA Tour on notice that he may have figured out his putting woes.
“There wasn’t a ton of mistakes for them to kind of use as momentum. It was more of a make-them-come-and-catch-me day,” Scheffler said. “Coming here getting a win this week feels great. Great way to finish off the year.”
The world No. 1 shot a bogey-free 4-under 68 at Albany to win the Hero World Challenge on Sunday by three strokes over Austria’s Sepp Straka, who closed in 64.
Scheffler followed up last year’s four-win season, which included the Masters, by defending his title at the WM Phoenix Open in February and winning the Players Championship in March, but he finished second twice and recorded 17 top-10 finishes as a balky putter held him back from possibly having a historic year. Despite ballstriking that rivaled some of the best seasons of Tiger Woods, Scheffler ranked 162nd in Strokes Gained: putting. Robert Damron, a former Tour pro and commentator for PGA Tour Live, followed Scheffler at the Charles Schwab Challenge and Memorial, which both were held in May, and where Scheffler finished a stroke out of a playoff in each.
“He putted like hot garbage,” Damron said on PGA Tour Network’s Sirius/XM Radio broadcast of the Hero World Challenge. “The ball striking was something I’d never seen before and I’ve seen a lot of golf in my day.”
Scheffler began working with putting coach Phil Kenyon before the Ryder Cup in late September and Scheffler’s confidence in the short stick is on the rise.
“Being the best player in the world, the guy is going to figure it out,” Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott said. “He got off the rails a little bit and needed some guidance and I don’t see a problem with it going forward.”
Scheffler also inserted a heel-toe weighted blade made by little-known puttermaker Olson Putter Co., into the bag this week and ranked sixth in the field in putting this week, gaining more than a half stroke on the field on the greens, avoiding a single three putt and didn’t miss a putt inside five feet for the first 71 holes.
“It’s very similar to some stuff that I used in the past,” Scheffler explained. “It has a little thing on the top that helps me line the ball up more consistently in the middle of the face and then obviously the grip is different than what I’ve used in the past, but that’s something that Phil and I have worked on together.”
Scheffler had finished second in this event the last two years, but this time he received the trophy from tournament host Tiger Woods, who played his first competitive golf since the Masters in April. Woods made five birdies on Sunday en route to shooting 72 and finished 18th in the 20-man field. Woods said he would be pleased if he could play one tournament a month next season as he attempts to mount a comeback from yet another surgery.
“There’s no reason why I can’t get into that rhythm. It’s just a matter of getting in better shape basically,” he said. “I feel like my game’s not that far off, but I need to get in better shape.”
He’ll have to bring his ‘A game’ to keep up with the likes of Scheffler, who shot 20-under 268.
“He probably won’t shoot less than 20 under most weeks if he putts that well,” said Jordan Spieth, who finished sixth.
Nursing a three-stroke lead going into the final round after shooting 69-66-65, Scheffler never made a mistake to give any of his fellow competitors a chance to pounce. He sealed the deal with a 7-iron to 10 feet at the par-5 15th to set up a two-putt birdie.
“It’s definitely nice kind of having the momentum of a win as I go into preparing for next season,” Scheffler said. “I mean, couldn’t get better momentum than this, you know.”
Morikawa’s third-round score at the fourth hole was changed to a triple-bogey 7.
NASSAU, Bahamas – Collin Morikawa was assessed a two-shot penalty for violating local model rule G-11, which restricts the use of green-reading material, on the fourth hole of the third round of the 2023 Hero World Challenge.
The rules committee was alerted to a potential rule violation late Saturday night after a question was posed by a player in the field. When asked if it was Morikawa’s playing partner during the third round, Matt Fitzpatrick, who brought the potential rule violation into question, chief referee Stephen Cox of the PGA Tour confirmed that was the case.
The local model rule was added in 2022 to protect the fundamental skill of reading greens. It’s not the first time a Tour pro has violated the rule.
Cox met with JJ Jakovac, Morikawa’s caddie, about two hours before their 12:03 p.m. final-round tee time. After reviewing his yardage book, it became clear that Jakovac had created a putting chart, which isn’t a violation of the rules in itself, but the manner of obtaining the information is key to the ruling. Jakovac used a level on the practice putting green and wrote a note directly into his yardage book and used it for assessing the read on the fourth hole during Saturday’s third round.
“Fortunately, that was the only time that a player or caddie used that chart or formula and on that basis the breach remained two strokes,” Cox said.
“This is a very complicated issue,” Cox added. “We were very specific in the fact that these handwritten notes needed to be obtained through traditional methods to protect the fundamental skill of reading greens through our sport and that’s the foundation of why we put the model local rule in place. In this situation, again, unwittingly, the player used a level to determine degrees of slope on the practice putting green, which in itself, isolated, is not a breach, but what that player did was formulated a chart and transferred that into his book.”
Had Jakovac devised a chart using his feet and estimated the slope or simply retained the information obtained from the measuring devise to memory rather than as a handwritten note, there would have been no penalty.
Morikawa was informed of the penalty on the range about 10-15 minutes before his tee time by Cox. When asked to describe Morikawa’s response, Cox said, “It went very similar to any other conversation that results in a penalty. He was very frustrated. It’s a very complicated rule.”
As a result, Morikawa’s third-round score at the fourth hole was changed to a triple-bogey 7, giving him an even-par 72.
“They understood the rule was broken but anytime the rules penalize a player there is inevitable pushback and frustration and that was shared by both player and caddie, which is human nature,” Cox told NBC Sports.
“At the end of the day we made the mistake and it’s on us. Thankfully it only happened that one time,” Morikawa said after his round Sunday.
NASSAU, Bahamas — Tiger Woods had 100 yards to a pin tucked in the back right corner of the 11th green at Albany on Saturday. It was the type of shot he used to pull the string like a yo-yo, tap-in for birdie and move on to the next hole.
Woods selected a sand wedge and lofted the shot into the wind. It’s a shot he has hit hundreds of time, and perhaps for the first time in a long time he was in his own estimation 3 ½ steps too long, the ball bounding over the green. Death. He made yet another bogey on a par 5, the holes he cleaned up on during his prime.
“That was a hard shot,” Woods said. “It’s going to get stood up in the wind and I had to take off… trying to hit it right there pin high and I missed by three and a half steps.”
Still, there’s reason for optimism for Woods, and he had no trouble finding it after the round.
Tiger bounced back from a shaky bogey-bogey start with four birdies over the next seven holes. He made a birdie and two bogeys on the inward nine to shoot 1-under 71. Two days in a row in red figures isn’t too shabby after a seven-month layoff from competitive golf.
But Tiger knows that stats don’t lie – well, maybe sometimes – but not on this occasion. He has been negative Strokes Gained against the field in all three rounds in SG: Approach and SG: Putting. For the week, he ranks 20th in SG: Approach (and 19th in proximity) and 19th in SG: Putting. That doesn’t sound too bad except for the fact the Hero is a 20-man field. Dead last in approach the green for one of the best iron players of all-time is about as un-Tiger-like as it gets.
Is that just rust? Maybe. But it suggests he’s going to need more reps to get ready to play the majors in 2024. Albany is typically a birdie-fest, and he’ll need to be much sharper. His rounds have stalled on the back nine – he’s 6 under on the front and 6 over on the back, which typically is the tougher side – which suggests he may be running out of gas, understandably. The good news is that Tiger still has plenty of pop – he’s averaging 308 yards off the tee – and is encouraged by how his body is feeling and that’s a win for the week.
“To be able to knock off some of the rust as I have this week and showed myself that I can recover each and every day, that was kind of an unknown as far as I’ve walked this far, I’ve done all my training, but add in playing and concentration and adrenaline and all those other factors that speed up everything, I’m very excited how the week’s turned out,” he said.
Tiger, who underwent yet another surgery in April to fuse the subtalar (joint just below the right ankle) and address arthritis caused by his previous talus (ankle) fracture, still is walking gingerly at times but this week (so far) ranks as the best he’s looked physically in a while.
“I can always hit it, I could never get from point A to point B. Once the bone on bone was relieved with the fusion, it’s felt night and day,” he said. “I don’t have mobility, but the fact that I’m able to walk and participate again without having to feel the way I felt just trying to do it again, that was frustrating. Now I’m able to do it. Now it’s just a matter of getting the reps in.”
Asked whether his back is of concern, he said, “My back hurts every day. It is what it is, that’s just life. But I can deal with that, that’s not a problem.”
Everything you need to know for the Hero World Challenge.
Did Scottie Scheffler learn how to putt?
The world No. 1 had the round of the tournament Saturday during the third round of the 2023 Hero World Challenge, shooting 7-under 65, including a bogey on the closing hole. However, Scheffler ranked fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting after that was his Achilles’ heel all season long.
The result? Scheffler sits at 16 under at the event he has finished runner-up at the past two years. This time, he has a three-shot lead over Matthew Fitzpatrick, who matched Scheffler with a 7-under 65, and five over Justin Thomas with 18 holes to play.
Everything you need to know for the Hero World Challenge.
It’s a Texas two-step in the Bahamas.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, both from Dallas, are tied after 36 holes at the 2023 Hero World Challenge at Albany. Scheffler shot 6-under 66 on Friday, the round of the week, while Spieth had a bogey-free 5-under 67, and the duo sits at 9-under 135 and two shots clear of the field heading to the weekend.
Brian Harman, one of the 18-hole co-leaders, came home in 31 on Friday and is solo third at 8 under. Justin Thomas will join the Open champion in the penultimate pairing on Saturday, sitting at 7 under. Meanwhile, tournament host Tiger Woods was five shots better Friday, shooting 2-under 70 and sitting at 1-over 145 for the week.
Here’s everything you need to know for the third round of the 2023 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. All times listed ET.
Saturday tee times
Tee time
Players
11:21 a.m.
Wyndham Clark, Will Zalatoris
11:32 a.m.
Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns
11:43 a.m.
Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland
11:54 a.m.
Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler
12:05 p.m.
Lucas Glover, Max Homa
12:16 p.m.
Jason Day, Cameron Young
12:27 p.m.
Tony Finau, Sepp Straka
12:38 p.m.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa
12:49 p.m.
Brian Harman, Justin Thomas
1:00 p.m.
Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth
How to watch
Saturday, Dec. 2
Third round, 12-2:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channell/Peacock; 2:30-5 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
Sunday, Dec. 3
Final round, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channell/Peacock; 1:30-4:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
Everything you need to know for the Hero World Challenge.
Tiger Woods is officially back in the mix. His round fell apart a bit at the end and the 15-time major champion signed for a 3-over 75 and is eight back of the lead after the first round of the 2023 Hero World Challenge at Albany in The Bahamas. He’ll be paired with Rickie Fowler in Friday’s second round.
Brian Harman and Tony Finau are tied for the lead at 5 under, while Jordan Spieth, who had an adventurous day, is in solo third at 4 under. Cameron Young, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Max Homa sit at T-5 after matching 3-under 68s. Two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland opened with a 1-over 73 and is solo 16th in the 20-man field.
Here’s everything you need to know for the second round of the 2023 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. All times listed ET.
Friday tee times
Tee time
Players
10:51 a.m.
Will Zalatoris, Wyndham Clark
11:02 a.m.
Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler
11:13 a.m.
Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose
11:24 a.m.
Keegan Bradley, Sepp Straka
11:35 a.m.
Jason Day, Sam Burns
11:46 a.m.
Lucas Glover, Justin Thomas
11:57 a.m.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa
12:08 p.m.
Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler
12:19 p.m.
Cameron Young, Jordan Spieth
12:30 p.m.
Tony Finau, Brian Harman
How to watch
Friday, Dec. 1
First round, 1:30-4:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/Peacock
Saturday, Dec. 2
Third round, 12-2:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channell/Peacock; 2:30-5 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
Sunday, Dec. 3
Final round, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channell/Peacock; 1:30-4:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
“It’s pretty cool to see a kid who started out being overwhelmed and look where he is today.”
NASSAU, Bahamas — Rick Rielly, the longtime director of golf at Wilshire Country Club, still remembers the first time Rob McNamara showed up to work for him.
“He was 13 or 14 years old and 80 pounds sopping wet,” he said. “He shows up with a towel, he might’ve had a ball retriever and I had him sit on the bench outside the golf shop until something opened up for a single because the caddie yard was a bit gruff in those days.”
Thirty-five years or so later, McNamara, 48, has a single bag for the next four days at the Hero World Challenge – the one and only Tiger Woods.
With Joe LaCava, Woods’s caddie since 2011, having moved on to Patrick Cantlay last year when Woods was sidelined following surgery to his right ankle in April, Woods was in need of a bagman this week – and likely at the PNC Championship and beyond – and turned to his right-hand man in McNamara, who has been one of his closest confidants for more than two decades.
“He’s seen me hit a few shots,” Woods said, underselling the value McNamara has brought to his game since he went without a coach beginning in 2017. (McNamara caddied most recently for Justin Thomas in The Payne Valley Cup, a made-for-TV exhibition in 2020 at the course Woods designed.)
All those years ago, McNamara’s father, who had a thick Irish brogue and lived in the neighborhood, talked his way past the gate at Wilshire, a private club not far from Hollywood, and charmed Rielly into giving his son his start in the game. McNamara was shy with a goofy laugh and a thick head of curly hair, but before long members took a liking to him and he worked his way into the bag room while also developing into a decent stick. He went off to Santa Clara University in Northern California and played on the golf team, graduating as a physics major in 1997, just as Tiger was getting started as a worldbeater. But it was golf not science where McNamara eyed making his mark.
After college, Rielly’s father, Pat, moved into the picture as an important figure in McNamara’s career development. Pat was a former PGA president and director of golf at Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena, and hired McNamara as an assistant pro, working in the shop. It wasn’t long before McNamara realized the club pro ranks wasn’t the path for him.
Tiger Woods celebrates with Rob McNamara, Vice President of TGR Ventures, as he comes off the 18th green at the 2019 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
He did a stint at a start-up golf website but when that company went under, Pat assisted on his next big break. When McNamara showed an interest in working as a sports agent, Pat asked his other son, Mike, who worked at IMG – the sports marketing giant founded by Mark McCormack – to arrange an interview. Pat was a good judge of talent, and McNamara got hired in 2000 as an account manager. Shortly after he moved to Cleveland and started at the firm that represented Arnold Palmer, Annika Sorenstam and Woods, one of the company’s top executives, Alastair Johnston, invited McNamara to his office for a get-to-know meeting.
“It took only a few minutes for Alastair to explain that in all his years Mr. McCormack had never weighed in on a hire at my level before, but after one short call with Pat that all had changed,” McNamara told Golfweek in 2022. “Pat somehow managed to convince Mark, a power-broker attorney and sports-marketing pioneer, that I was the only possible candidate that could handle the job and that it would be a massive mistake for IMG to miss out on this random ex-college golfer who at 24 years old had little to no experience.”
The curly hair is long gone but McNamara has gone on to become Woods’ right-hand man, with an official title of executive vice president of TGR Ventures.
In his early days at IMG, new media was new and he was a digital native, who helped protect Tiger’s rights.
“None of us knew what it meant, and Rob figured it out,” Mike Rielly said.
He became part of Team Tiger with the likes of Kathy Battaglia and Chris Hubman, later leaving IMG altogether when Woods formed his own company. Outside of Mark Steinberg, who has served as Tiger’s longtime agent, McNamara’s been one of Tiger’s most loyal and longest-tenured associates through thick and thin, a contemporary who speaks the same language and a second set of eyes and ears he depends on. It’s a remarkable trajectory from teenage caddie to being in the inner circle with the greatest golfer of his time in a relationship where the respect goes both ways.
“Seeing Robert on TV today, it’s pretty cool to see a kid who started out being overwhelmed and look where he is today,” Rick Rielly said. “He got his break and he took it.”
“If he wins, I am going to find someone else to stay with,” Collin Morikawa said.
NASSAU, Bahamas – Viktor Hovland is attempting to do something at this week’s Hero World Challenge that he said he’s never done before at any level in golf – win the same tournament three consecutive times.
Not even Tiger Woods has achieved that feat at the Hero, where he is the tournament host. Woods is a five-time champ and won the event in 2006 and 2007 but in 2008 he was unable to go for the three-peat. Hovland is well aware of all this and said he’s up to the challenge.
“It wouldn’t suck or else I wouldn’t be here,” said Hovland, who took a few minutes between his practice session on Wednesday to talk to Golfweek.
A year ago, Hovland arrived at Albany Golf Club as the defending champion but he wasn’t happy with the state of his game. Winning surprised Hovland but it was a good lesson that he didn’t need to play perfect golf to hold the trophy on Sunday.
“I played great obviously, but I didn’t feel great going into it and I still managed to win,” he said.
But he also refused to be complacent and earlier this year, he changed swing instructors to Joe Mayo, who helped him revamp his short game, which had been holding him back at tougher courses. Hovland won three times in all on the PGA Tour and climbed to fourth in the Official World Ranking. But to a lot of people, himself included as he stated on Smylie Kaufman’s podcast, he’s been playing the best golf of anyone.
The Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings has him second behind only Scottie Scheffler while Data Golf ranks him first and as the 16th best-player all-time in terms of his peak performance (between the British Open and the DP World Tour Championship).
Hovland no doubt is the hottest player in the world, having won his two most recent starts on the PGA Tour at the BMW Championship and Tour Championship and then played a starring role in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory.
His performance has earned the respect of his peers.
“What he’s done kind of this entire year, especially starting at Memorial, it doesn’t surprise me at all because I’ve seen it,” said Collin Morikawa. “I’ve seen it for years. I’ve seen it in college, I’ve seen it even when we first turned pro.”
Veteran pro Jason Day is convinced he could pull off three in a row this week against a 20-man field, which includes the return of Tiger Woods.
“He’s got confidence,” Day said. “Viktor’s played such a good stretch of golf. I don’t know how he spent his break. It really depends whether he’s been hanging with friends or grinding on his game but he’s certainly capable of more great golf.”
Hovland said he took 3 ½ weeks off after the Ryder Cup and visited Norway, and then went and finished T-2 at the DP World Tour Championship. Asked to explain why he’s had so much success at Albany Golf Club, a course designed by Ernie Els, Hovland said, “You’ve got to hit it straight and it blows a lot and I like playing in the wind.”
Hovland is sharing a house this week again with Morikawa, a two-time major winner, but he won’t have the same room this year as the FedEx Cup champ got upgraded to the master bedroom.
“I had the master bedroom the past two years and that hasn’t worked out for me, but it has for him,” Morikawa said. “So I decided, and I texted him yesterday to make sure he was taking the master bedroom. We showed up at like 3 a.m. (Tuesday), so it was nice to find my little guest room in the corner. He’s got everything he needs.”
And should Hovland repeat it definitely won’t suck, as he put it, but it will mean he’ll need a new roommate when he returns next year.
“If he wins, I am going to find someone else to stay with,” Morikawa said. “Something has to change, something has to give.”
Here’s a look at some of the shirts, hats and accessories on sale to the public.
NASSAU, Bahamas — Albany Golf Club is a luxurious setting for the Hero World Challenge. This is where Tiger Woods likes to dock his yacht named Privacy.
But it’s also a 20-man field and the crowds are typically sparse so there isn’t the need for a special merchandise tent. All the goodies are packed into the pro shop at Albany. It’s a nice mix of brands from Nike Golf and Peter Millar to B Draddy and Johnnie-O and Holderness & Bourne and Greyson as well as EP Pro and Foray Golf for women. But overall, the merchandise feels like an afterthought. There’s potential for so much more.
Here’s a look at some of the shirts, hats and accessories on sale to the public.
