'It's Still Not Easy:' Tiger Woods Expounds on What Preparing to Play Means Now
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Tiger Woods played another nine holes of practice on Tuesday at the Old Course, more than doubling his output of preparation for the British Open compared to the work he put in prior to the Masters and U.S. Open.
It is a sign, perhaps, that he is prepared and willing to take on more. It is also a sign how much playing in the 150th Open at the home of golf means to him.
Tiger Woods has been busy since Saturday at the Old Course, preparing for what he said could be his last competitive chance at St. Andrews.
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“It's great to be a part of this Open Championship,’’ Woods said after his practice round. “As I said, it feels more historic. And I'm looking forward to the challenge.’’
Woods, 46, reminisced about playing the Open here in 1995 as an amateur and watching Arnold Palmer tee off on the first hole as he was playing his final round in the tournament.
He remembered the 2005 event – which he won – when Jack Nicklaus played his final major championship at the Old Course.
And he acknowledged there might not be a next time for him at St. Andrews, which could be back on the schedule for the Open in five or six years.
“Who knows? I don't know, if it is that long, whether I will be able to physically compete at this level by then,’’ Woods said. “It's also one of the reasons why I wanted to play in this championship. I don't know what my career is going to be like.
“As I told you, I'm not going to play a full schedule ever again. My body just won't allow me to do that. I don't know how many Open Championships I have left here at St. Andrews, but I wanted this one. It started here for me in '95 (as an amateur), and if it ends here in '22, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. If I get the chance to play one more, it would be great, but there's no guarantee.’’
Woods, who has three Open titles among his 15 majors – and two at the Old Course – arrived in St. Andrews on Saturday and surprisingly showed up in the evening and walked the entire course, using just a putter and wedges and finishing near darkness.
He returned Sunday morning for an 18-hole practice round – he had not played a full 18 holes in one day leading up to the Masters or PGA – that took 5 ½ hours as he and Justin Thomas methodically worked on their games and shots around the greens.
On Monday, it was the first nine (along with a four-hole Champions event on Monday evening), and then the last nine on Tuesday. Woods said he will only hit balls Wednesday. His first-round tee time is at 2:59 p.m. local time Thursday (9:59 a.m ET).
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Woods played 27 holes at Augusta National leading up to the Masters and 27 holes at Southern Hills leading to the PGA Championship.
Woods returned from serious right leg injuries suffered in a February 2021 car crash at the Masters, where he finished 47th but was clearly struggling on the hills of Augusta National on the weekend. He made the cut at the PGA Championship but withdrew after the third round at Southern Hills.
The belief all along has been that St. Andrews would provide a less stressful walk.
“It’s still not easy," Woods said. “Granted, the inclines are not steep in any way. The declines are not steep. But it's the unevenness that is still difficult on me. I have a lot of hardware in my leg. So it is what it is. It's going to be difficult.
“Yes, the walk is certainly a lot easier than those two championships that I played in before this year. I'm able to walk a lot more holes. Also, then again, I've gotten a lot stronger since then. I spend more time now that I've gotten a chance to work in the weight room and get stronger and get the endurance better in my leg.
“Playing Augusta, I didn't know. My leg was not in any condition to play 72 holes. It just ran out of gas. But it's different now. It's gotten a lot stronger, a lot better. Hopefully it will continue to get that way. But again, as I said, having a lot of hardware in there makes it a little bit of a challenge.’’
And Woods said there's a balance required to spend time walking and getting ready to play tournaments.
“The biggest challenge is I'm not playing tournament golf to get tournament ready for the majors,’’ he said. “I'm not hitting shots in tournaments to know what works and what doesn't work. I've had to do that at home. Yes, I can do that. I can do that at home to a certain extent, but it certainly is a lot better when I'm able to play tournament golf to feel tournament-hardened coming into these big events.’’