Tiger Woods avoided a last-place finish in the 2018 Hero World Challenge.

Woods shot one over in the final round Sunday at Albany Golf Club in New Providence, Bahamas. As a result, he finished one under for the tournament, putting him 17th among the 18 golfers participating in the event. Hideki Matsuyama wrapped up his final round one shot behind Woods.

Any hope of Woods winning the Hero World Challenge ended early into this year's event, but he headed into Sunday with the opportunity to at least climb a few spots up the leaderboard.

Instead, he opened with a bogey on the first hole and was already four over when he made the turn to the back nine.

That followed a trend for Woods throughout the Hero World Challenge. Between the first and third holes, he lost five combined strokes. He dug himself into early holes that stunted his ability to make much progress.

The ninth hole in particular was a low point Sunday. Woods found the water twice before getting on the green, and he was lucky to only card a bogey. Tiger Tracker spoke for many fans following Woods's performance throughout the day.

The back nine was a different story for the 14-time major winner, though. He began clawing his way back with a birdie on No. 11 before stringing together three straight birdies starting on No. 13 to get to even par for the round.

Woods three-putted on the par-three 17th hole to bogey and halt his momentum, but he wrapped up the tournament with a par on No. 18 to guarantee himself a better score than Matsuyama, who went three over in the final round.

Woods generated a ton of excitement among golf fans with his runner-up finish in the PGA Championship and Tour Championship victory. Since his win at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, though, Woods lost Capital One's The Match in a playoff to Phil Mickelson and now put together an underwhelming result in the Hero World Challenge.

Still, that doesn't erase the clear steps forward Woods took this season.

The 42-year-old preferred to accentuate the positive after hitting the clubhouse in New Providence, per Tiger Tracker.

Woods told reporters earlier in the week he likely won't return to competitive action until the 2019 Genesis Open. The tournament tees off Feb. 14 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.