Tiger Woods finished 15th at the Hero World Challenge, 14 shots behind the winner, Hideki Matsuyama, and said afterwards there had been “some pretty dire times” during his 15-month injury absence.

Woods, 40, 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 a 76, his worst round of the week.

However, he was delighted to be competing again after two back operations, saying: “There were some pretty dire times when I couldn’t move. 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 second-round 65 had briefly thrust Woods, winner of 14 majors, into contention but there were signs of rust in the final round, with the American thinning a wedge over the back of the 6th green en route to his first double bogey of the day.

He reached the turn in level par after a run of three birdies, 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 shot a closing 73 to take the title on 18 under, two clear of the Open champion, Henrik Stenson.