Tiger lights up golf world with hot streak in Bahamas

For a third day in a row Tiger Woods treated his fans to a rousing start in his much anticipated return to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on Saturday.

But while his flawless 65 in the second round created a flurry of excitement throughout the golf world, yesterday's round lost a bit of its gloss in the final stretch and he closed with a two-under 70.

Woods, sidelined for nearly 16 months with back-related issues, birdied six of the first 11 holes, and closed to within two shots of the lead before bogeying 13 and 14, and ended the third round with a double bogey.

Woods, 40, the prime focus of attention at the 18-man event, which he hosts at the Albany course on the island of New Providence, signed for a two-under 70 - 11 behind runaway leader Hideki Matsuyama of Japan on 65.

"For three straight days I've been off to great starts," Woods told the Golf Channel.

"Overall I am just so happy to be back out here competing again and fighting against these guys.

"It's been a tough road to come back here, to get to this point. I missed it," said Woods, who treated his fans at the fifth, where he holed out from a green-side bunker for a birdie.

World No6 Matsuyama, who has won three of his last four starts worldwide, holed out from the fairway to eagle the par-four seventh on his way to a 19-under total of 197 for a commanding seven-shot lead over the pack.

But Woods thrilled the galleries when he birdied the first, second, third and fifth .

Though he three-putted to bogey the par-five sixth, he picked up further shots at the seventh and 11th.