Tiger Woods soaks in what could be his last walk at St. Andrews
After a rough first day at The Open, Tiger Woods would need quite a historic second-round in order to advance.
Unfortunately for him and fans of the sport who have watched them their whole lives, that was not the case. Woods missed the cut finishing today 3-over bringing his total score to 9-over. However, he did get his "moment", when his caddie and playing partners, Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Home all stopped walking allowing for Woods to cross the infamous Swilcan Bridge on hole 18 to receive an ovation.
Along with the fans, some of the games top players in Rory Mcllroy and Justin Thomas also tipped their caps to Woods, who expressed to reporters that this could be his last time at this tournament saying:
"That's when I started to realize, hey, the next time it comes around here, I might not be around," Woods said.
This isn't Woods hinting at a retirement, but according to ESPN's Mark Schlabach based off the R&A's rotation, The Open probably won't be back at St. Andrews until 2027, when Woods will be 51 years old and likely unable to compete at this level. He explained he doesn't have a game-plan as he was just hoping to play in this tournament after getting into a near deadly car crash this past year saying:
"I have nothing, nothing planned. Zero," Woods said. "Maybe something next year. I don't know. But nothing in the near future. This is it. I was just hoping to play this one event this year. And I was lucky enough, again, [to get] three events in and they're all majors. So I feel very fortunate to have had things happen this way [after] the struggles I've been through to get to this point."
It was a tough and frustrating finish for Woods who got off to a rocky start in round-one, which he sited as one of the main reasons it was hard to bounce back saying:
"I'm a little ticked that I'm not playing on the weekend," Woods said. "I certainly did not play good enough to be around. I wish I would have played better. I wish I had a little bit better break at the first hole yesterday and maybe started off a little better. But that's just kind of how it all went from there. Just never really kind of materialized. I fought hard, and, unfortunately, I just could never turn it around."