Hero World Challenge Review: Fowler wins, Tiger is back

Last week saw the high-profile return of Tiger Woods at the Hero World Challenge and, just in case you were living under a rock this past week, we thought we'd review the tournaments biggest talking points.

In our opinion, there were two standouts: Tiger's return and Rickie Fowler's amazing win.

Let's have a look at them both in greater detail:

Rickie the Hero at Albany

Heading into the final round at the Hero World Challenge few would have expected to see Rickie Fowler lift the trophy come the end of play.

The world number seven found himself sitting seven shots behind Charley Hoffman - who had been mercurial to that point - but managed to reel off seven straight birdies to open his round before ultimately signing for a career-low 11-under-par 61.

Hoffman stalled somewhat in his final round and Fowler soon found himself with a clear lead and never looked back.

This was a second win of the year after the Californian prevailed at the Honda Classic back in February and it can only point to great things in 2018.

Fowler is one of the players who it seems could potentially shed their maiden major tag next year and he will take confidence from a positive end to 2017 into preparations for The Masters in April.

Catch the highlights of Rickie's final round in The Bahamas:

Tiger's successful return

The week started with a mixture of excitement and trepidation for Tiger Woods at the Hero World Challenge.

Though doctors had provided the all-clear for the return to golf, it remained to be seen just how tournament-ready the 14-time major winner would be when he stepped on to the first tee box at Albany.

As it turned out, there were far more positive takeaways from the four days play than many would have anticipated.

Displaying straighter driving, generally solid putting, crisp iron play and - although the pitching and chipping were not completely error-free - his short game seemed at a level above that of twelve months ago.

Need some evidence of the inpressive driving and putting? Check out this eagle on the short par-4 below:

Recording three sub-70 rounds of golf on his way to a T-9 finish did suggest that there was plenty to look forward to in 2018. Indeed, finishing ahead of world number one Dustin Johnson, and two current major champions in Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas, provides evidence of an ability to mix it with the best in the game.

From here Tiger will begin to build a schedule for next year and one that will see him ideally arrive at Augusta National in peak form.

It was great to see the great man back in competitive golf once again and, as far as we're concerned, the whole world of golf becomes that bit more exciting with Tiger around.

How did you rate Tiger's return? What are his chances at the majors in 2018? What did you think about Rickie's final round? Let us know below.