Tiger Woods had a pretty catastrophic comeback to golf today

Tiger Woods' first round of competitive golf in four months went pretty well if, by "pretty well" you mean his back didn't explode.

The 38-year-old endured a five-over-par round of 77 at the Hero World Challenge, finishing the day in 18th (last) place. Chipping seemed to be the biggest issue for the former world number 1 as he botched four relatively simple chips in the opening 18 holes, twice on the same hole. Woods was struggling from the get-go after he sent his first tee-shot so far left that it ended up in some poor soul's swimming pool, before also bogeying his second of a front nine in which Woods failed to find a birdie. His front nine 41 is made all the more miserable when you consider the fact that Woods once finished an entire practice round at the same course with a score of 59. But there were some signs of encouragement for Woods, who hadn't played competitively since the PGA Championship in August, on the back nine as he finally seemed to be coming to terms with his swing adjustment but his only birdie came on the par-4 twelfth.

There haven't been many highlights for Tiger today, but this near-hole-out at 12 was definitely one: http://t.co/vh3MNl5qaU — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 4, 2014

Woods finished the round with five consecutive pars but, on the bright side, he never once clutched his back in agony. Every cloud eh?