Power rankings: Hero World Challenge

Tiger Woods is back this week, as he makes his return to competitive golf after a 15-month absence at the Hero World Challenge. Woods is one of just 18 players in the field at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas, where Bubba Watson is defending champion in an event in which 25-under total won last year.

So, who are the five best players in the field? Here’s our Tiger-less ranking.

1. Brooks Koepka — Love Koepka here. A winner in Japan in his last start, and this is a course where he should be able to bang it around and make plenty of birdies.

2. Jordan Spieth — Spieth won the Aussie Open without his best stuff, showing the grit that is the core of his talent. Was fourth here last year.

3. Henrik Stenson — Stenson won the Race to Dubai with a T-9 in his last start in Dubai. He does well on courses where he can use the bionic 3-wood to make plenty of par-5 birdies.

4. Hideki Matsuyama — Matsuyama won the WGC-HSBC Champions and has been tearing it up in Japan in the PGA Tour off-season. Putting always a question.

5. Dustin Johnson — DJ wasn’t a threat here last year, and that didn’t really make much sense. Comfortable Day 1 pairing with Koepka.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.