Tiger Woods hits his first hole-in-one in 20 years

Tiger Woods has snared his first hole-in-one in two decades.

Tiger famously made an ace in his professional debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1996.

He then made another at the Phoenix Open in 1997.

The most obscure of his three PGA Tour aces came in 1998 at Castle Pines.

But that wasn’t just his most recent hole-in-one in competition, it was his most recent hole-in-one period.

That is until last week.

Last Thursday, two days before losing to Phil Mickelson in The Match, Woods made his first hole-in-one in 20 years.

He aced the 210-yard, par-3 second hole at Madison Club in La Quinta, California with a 5-iron.

Woods made the revelation at the Hero World Challenge on Wednesday, telling reporters he was playing with son Charlie, and Fred Couples.

Woods said he didn’t see the ball go into the hole and was shocked when he found it in the bottom of the cup.

‘Exhausted’ Tiger to adjust schedule

Woods plans to modify his tournament schedule next year after admitting being exhausted during a busy close to his comeback season following injury.

The 14-times major winner enjoyed a strong finish on his return to golf following spinal-fusion surgery in 2017, playing in 18 PGA Tour events – the most he has been involved in since 2012.

But he admitted it was a mistake to take on such a heavy schedule, participating in seven events in the final nine weeks.

“I was not physically prepared to play that much golf at the end of the year,” Woods said ahead of this week’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, an event he hosts.

“It was just hard for me to maintain my strength and my weight through all that. I tend to lose a lot of weight when I play. I was exhausted by the time I got to the Ryder Cup. I was worn out mentally, physically, emotionally.”

Woods, who turns 43 on Dec. 30, is no longer able to train like he did in his prime, and the hectic end to the season ultimately took its toll.

Still, Woods was able to produce good enough form to triumph at the season-ending Tour Championship and cap a stretch in which he posted five top-10 finishes over eight tournaments.

“I played all my good tournaments when I had time off and I felt rested,” said the former world No.1.

“If I didn’t feel rested, I didn’t play well. Maybe that’s just being a little bit older, but I think it’s important, and playing seven of the last nine last (season) was too much.”

with AAP