Power Rankings: Hero World Challenge

For as long as fans have laid their eyes on Tiger Woods, he’s been the gift that’s kept on giving, so it’s only fitting that he returns to competition during this holiday season.

Naturally, it never would be wrong to state that the 82-time PGA TOUR winner and 15-time major champion headlines the field of the Hero World Challenge, but even he has his work cut out in yet another exceptionally deep field at Albany on New Providence Island in The Bahamas.

All 20 entrants are slotted below. Keep scrolling for what they face on the funky par 72 and details of the 72-hole competition.

Woods, who also serves as the tournament host, is one of just five in the field who didn’t pick off a victory this year. Fellow previously injured Will Zalatoris is another who is making his return to competition after most of the year outside the ropes. The somehow-still-winless Cameron Young also is a member of the dubious quintet, as are a pair of multiple major champions forever inextricably connected, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

Of those five, only Woods and Zalatoris didn’t tee it up at Albany last year. Woods was a late scratch due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot, while Zalatoris joins 2023 major champions Wyndham Clark (U.S. Open) and Brian Harman (The Open Championship) as tournament debutants.

The 11 in this week’s field who were here a year ago endured arguably the toughest conditions since Albany assumed the position as the host course in 2015. In what was its seventh staging (the 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic), Viktor Hovland successfully defended his title with a tournament-high 16-under 274. In persistently pesky and gusty winds, the field averaged 71.063 across four rounds, and that included preferred lies in the first two.

That scoring average was almost 1.7 strokes higher than the previous year when winds challenged much like they are expected to this week. Gusts may not touch 20 mph at any time. Weather will be otherwise seasonable with daytime highs of about 80 degrees complemented by a nonzero chance of rain. The entire field will be going out in twosomes within 100 minutes of each other in all four rounds.

Whoever captures the title also will pocket $1 million of a $4.5-million prize fund. There is no cut and Official World Golf Ranking points are up for grabs. The next playoff at Albany will be the first.

The Ernie Els design presents respective pars of 36 but with an aggregate of five par 3s and five par 5s. Bermudagrass greens governed to about 12 feet on the Stimpmeter average just 4,500 square feet, but the welcoming landing areas and quality of the talent override how the maximum length of 7,449 yards could be perceived.

In what must be considered as a hole that fits a golfer’s eye more than any other, Hovland has the market cornered on the drivable par-4 14th. In eight attempts, he has four of the seven eagles converted by the last two fields altogether, including the only eagle last year. With two birdies, a par and a bogey as well, his scoring average is 2.875 (!) on the hole.

NOTE: Although PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf is off until The Sentry on Jan. 4-7, we will published our Expert Picks for the Hero World Challenge on Tuesday, Nov. 28.