He finished 15th in a field of 17 and closed with an ugly four-over 76, but there’s a lot to like about the return of Tiger Woods.

First off is the fact that there was a return at all. I still remember flying out to Napa, Calif., in October — forgoing my turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Monday – expecting to see Woods teeing it up at the Safeway Open. As I landed, my phone had exploded with the news that he’d balked.

So seeing him on the tee in the Bahamas, actually swinging at a ball, was a good sign.

But there’s more than that. Here’s my report card on what we saw from the 14-time major winner.

 

Health – A

For the first time in what seems like forever, Woods looked fit. He didn’t wince when he took a swing or leaned over to get the ball out of the hole.

Remember, it was just a year ago when he told the world that he was laid up in bed, feeling so much pain that he wasn’t sure he’d ever play golf again.

To see the Big Cat lashing at his driver and not immediately grabbing his back (or knee, shin, wrist, neck or glute) is a good sign. There are reports that it takes a big commitment to keep him up to speed, at least in the early going. He has two to three hours of post-round treatment to ensure he doesn’t re-injure the surgically repaired back.

 

Swing – B

Woods’ swing has some slight modifications from the last time we saw it. He has narrowed his stance, is standing taller at address, isn’t dropping his head as much at impact, and while he does have a good whip with the driver once in a while, there seems to be less violence and more rhythm to his swing.

It all looks as if he’s trying to protect his back.

 

Iron Play – B

The only clubs in the bag that he didn’t change from before his surgery, Woods was as good with his iron play as with any part of his game. His distance control was very good for much of the four rounds. There is still room for improvement though, as he still missed a significant number of greens.

Now the question is how long will he continue to use the irons. I expect that he may try to hang on to them for some time, but expect a switch at some point.

 

Short Game – C

There was a great deal of speculation that the reason Woods pulled out of the Safeway at the last minute was because he hadn’t ironed out the yips that plagued him at the start of 2016.

While there were some ugly chips over the four days at the Albany Club, Woods was pitching and chipping his shots straight ahead, for the most part. They didn’t always have the right distance – in fact some were very long and there were at least two chunks – but there were also some that nestled up close. And if you include bunker shots in this category, then it goes up half a grade. He still has a lot of rust to peel off, but considering where he was, this is an improvement.

 

Putting – C-

It didn’t take long for Woods to put his trusty Scotty Cameron back into his bag – mere minutes after Nike exited the hard goods side of the business. And if I’d won 13 majors with that club, I’d put it back in too (the fact that Rory did the same thing should tell you about their preference of the Nike putters).

Much like his chipping, he was inconsistent with his putting. He missed far too many from inside 10 feet, but he also made a few bombs and he was generally around the hole when he was stroking them from long distance.

Again, I chalk much of this up to the long layoff.

 

Driver – D

First off, Woods hasn’t lost any distance off the tee. He was hitting it long and driving it past some of his playing partners, notably Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler.

However, has never been a very accurate driver of the golf ball, at least in recent years. So the fact that he was spraying the ball all over wasn’t shocking. However, the Albany Club’s fairways were generous by PGA Tour standards and the fact that Woods was playing so many second shots from the sandy waste areas was a bit of a reason to worry.

The majority of his missed tee shots were left, so if there’s a silver lining it’s that he had a one-way miss for most of the week, something that’s easier to fix than a wide-angle spray.

Tiger seemed to think that part of the problem lay in the fact that he’d never played with an adjustable driver before, being a stubborn old-school kind of equipment guy. Perhaps, but I suspect he’ll get a club dialed in and tighten up those misses. He may want to take a page from Henrik Stenson’s book and look at using the three-wood more often – it worked for Woods in the second round when he shot 65.