Tiger Woods falters in final round as Matsuyama reigns

Tiger Woods admitted there had been "some pretty dire times" during his 15-month injury absence after a closing 76 saw him finish 15th at the Hero World Challenge, 14 shots behind winner Hideki Matsuyama.

The 14-time Major winner, who came through 72 holes unscathed in the 18-man event in the Bahamas, had three double bogeys, three bogeys and five birdies as he finished with his worst round of the week.

However, the 40-year-old insisted he was delighted to be competing again after two back operations.

“There were some pretty dire times when I couldn’t move,” Woods told Sky Sports News. “You just lay there and you can’t move — those are scary times.

“It’s great to be back playing against the best players in the world, but unfortunately I made a lot of mistakes this week. I made some poor decisions.

“Getting my lights back and my body back and focusing for a long period of time — these are things I’ve missed for a year and a half.

“I made some birdies this week, which is nice. I always want to be aggressive, but I made some bad mistakes — you can’t make two sevens.

“The pain and issues I’ve had... it was just rough.”

A sparkling 65 on Friday had briefly thrust Woods into contention but there were signs of rust in the final round, with the American thinning a wedge over the back of the sixth green en route to his first double bogey of the day.

A hat-trick of birdies from the seventh got him to the turn in level par, but Woods then dropped four shots in three holes, with his short game letting him down on the 11th with two poor chips.

Back-to-back gains on the 14th and 15th took Woods birdie count to 24 — the highest in the field this week — as he finished on four under par.

Japan's Matsuyama carded a closing 73 to take the title on 18 under, two clear of Open champion Henrik Stenson.