By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Hero World Challenge is still days away from an official tee-off, but the professional golf world will be fixated on the Albany Golf Course today.

Tournament host and golf icon Tiger Woods will make a much anticipated address to the media at a press conference for the first time since his harrowing car accident last February.

The general public had an opportunity to see Woods for the first time since the aforementioned accident when he posted a video to his Instagram just over a week ago. The brief video showed Woods in a return to the golf course taking a swing and captioned “Making Process.”

The Hero World Challenge returns to The Bahamas after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to COVID-19.

The four-round, 72-hole stroke play event features $3.5 million purse, a $1 million winner’s prize and Official World Golf Ranking points awarded. It now features 20 of the top golfers on the PGA Tour after the field was expanded from its traditional 18.

The schedule of events will begin with the pre tournament Pro-Am on Wednesday, December 1. The main event tees off Thursday and concludes on December 5.

Collin Morikawa, winner of the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship, will make his tournament debut and be joined by 2020 U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau and defending Hero World Challenge winner Henrik Stenson.

Starting this year, the winner of THE PLAYERS Championship also received an invitation to the Hero World Challenge, with Justin Thomas set to compete again at Albany. Xander Schauffele returns to Albany following his gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

An avid vacationer to the Bahamas, Woods has been a staple on the local sports tourism scene since the inception of the Bahamas’ version of the event in 2015.

The Tiger Woods Foundation has been the event’s primary charitable beneficiary, along with the Tavistock Foundation and Bahamas Youth Foundation.

Past champions in the event have included Bubba Watson, Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama and most recently, Henrik Stenson.

Stenson’s win at the 2019 event also raised funds toward Hurricane Dorian Relief through a challenge issued by the event’s title sponsor, Here MotorCorp.

Hero MotoCorp issued a challenge to the field and pledged $500 for every birdie, $1,000 for every eagle and $2,500 for every ace with proceeds given to the One Bahamas Fund.

The Players raised $184,500 and One Bahamas planned to match the donation for a total of $369,000.