In a typically feisty pre-Open Championship press conference, 15-time major champion Tiger Woods played up his chances of adding to his major tally and played down any talk that it might be time for the 48-year-old to hang up his clubs and preserve his legacy
Glad to see you back here at The Open competing once again. How much are you looking forward to this test at Royal Troon?
TIGER WOODS: I’m really looking forward to it. I didn’t get to play it last time I was here. Looking forward to the challenges. I know they’ve gone around here a couple times and lengthened quite a few holes. It’s a lot longer golf course.
A few added bunkers here and there.
Overall, it’s one of those courses where you’re going to get it on one of the nines. It’s either going out it’s going to be downwind or coming home it’s going to be into the wind or vice versa.
Half of the holes are going to be playing really difficult, and the other ones are definitely gettable.
You’ve spoken previously about how it’s hard for you because you can’t practice as much and you have to pick your battles. What have you been able to do in the last month that leads you to believe that this week will be different than the ones so far this year?
TIGER WOODS: I’ve been training a lot better. We’ve been busting it pretty hard in the gym, which has been good.
Body’s been feeling better to be able to do such things, and it translates on being able to hit the ball better. I can’t quite stay out there during a practice session as long as I’d like, but I’m able to do some things that I haven’t done all year, which is nice.
There’s always a lot of talk about your future in the game. Hypothetically, if someone ever did advise you to quit, what would you say to them in response, and how would you explain why you keep putting yourself through the pain to play?
TIGER WOODS: I’ll play as long as I can play and I feel like I can still win the event.
You most likely heard those comments last week from Colin Montgomerie who said that you should retire. Do you feel that’s a bit hurtful and you’ve earned the right to make the decision on your own terms?
TIGER WOODS: Well, as a past champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60. Colin’s not.
He’s not a past champion, so he’s not exempt. So he doesn’t get the opportunity to make that decision. I do. So when I get to his age, I get to still make that decision, where he doesn’t.
Could you perhaps just talk a little bit about playing golf in Scotland and the challenge that links golf and Troon presents.
TIGER WOODS: Well, I think that anytime I get a chance to play, not just in Scotland, but just in the UK in general, it’s different golf.
Links golf is very different. The heaviness of the air is just different. The ball doesn’t travel as far. You’re using the ground sometimes as an ally, sometimes as a deterrent. And these pot bunkers are unlike any bunkers we see at home. They’re penalty areas.
You go in them, you’re probably going sideways or backwards or somewhere not very far. So it’s imperative to stay out of them.
There’s a way of using the ground to your advantage on hitting shots and shaping it correctly. Look at some of the past champions that have been artists in how they’ve been able to manoeuvre the golf ball and use the ground.
This golf course allows you to do that. There are a few forced carries in which you have to send it a little bit, but it’s very fair. It’s very open right now.
How do you feel about your short game and your putting?
TIGER WOODS: I’d like to tighten up my short game just a little bit. I hadn’t seen anything this firm at home. Hot Florida, Bermuda grass is not quite like this.
I need to get some more reps chipping around this fescue and how fast my blade is going through the ground. It’s going through pretty quickly. So I’ve got to get a little bit of work done today and tomorrow and be ready come Thursday.
Could you describe perhaps some of the holes that you said are kind of green light “go” holes and maybe a couple you want to be more cautious on?
TIGER WOODS: The first couple holes starting out are pretty simple, straightforward. The 7th is one of those holes that I think you can go for it if you want to. You can drive it down there.
You get the right wind, you can almost drive it on the green. Then coming home is no joke. You’ve got some tough tee shots coming home. You’ve got to hit some good shots.
But overall, I think there are some gettable holes on the par-5s – well, the two par-5s on the front. Depends what 16 is doing with the wind.
You can get it whistling into the wind, it’s a three-shot hole no matter what. Or if the wind lays down, you can get there in two.
You’ve just got to be careful with the burn coming across the fairway.
Other than that, you’ll see a lot of the guys lay up to the same spots.
There will be occasional areas where, with the right wind conditions, guys can be aggressive, especially some of the longer hitters.
It does allow for that. But in general, if we get the winds we’re forecasted, I think we’re all going to be playing from about the same areas.
The Postage Stamp 8th is one of the most iconic holes on The Open rota. Can you give us your insight into playing it and the challenge it presents?
TIGER WOODS: I hit 9-iron and a pitching wedge the last two times I played it. I’ve hit as much as a 7-iron. But it’s a very simple hole; just hit the ball on the green.
That’s it. Green good, miss green bad. It doesn’t get any more simple than that. You don’t need a 240-yard par-3 for it to be hard.
Tiger, you seemed to embrace links golf almost from the beginning it seems. Does it present your best opportunity going forward, whether it’s this week or into the future to win again or to be competitive just because of the style and maybe it doesn’t require some things that are harder for you now?
TIGER WOODS: I think the older you get, the less you can carry the golf ball. But over here, you can run the golf ball 100 yards if you get the right wind and the right trajectory.
It negates somewhat of the high launch conditions that most of the times you see on the Tour that nowadays that populate the world. Here it’s a little bit different.
You can play on the ground. You can burn it on the ground with a 1-iron, 2-iron, 3-wood, whatever, even drivers, and just flight it and get a bunch of run.
I think that’s one of the reasons why you see older champions up there on the board because they’re not forced to have to carry the ball 320 yards any more.
I know it’s been 20 years since you were last here, but does Troon rate highly for you as an Open venue?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I’ve always loved playing here. I’ve only played here twice. I played in ’97 and in ’04. I loved them both.
I got a chance to play with Tom Weiskopf in his last practice round.
That was neat for him to take me back to some of his holes and how he played them, and I obviously gave him some stick, and he’s giving me stick, like we always do.
We had a wonderful time playing just a wonderful practice round.
Rory McIlroy revealed recently that Michael Jordan and Rafael Nadal were two of the people who reached out to him after what he went through at Pinehurst. I was just wondering if you’d spoken to him about that or if you could offer advice on how you get over such a tough loss.
TIGER WOODS: I just sent him a nice text. That was it. I waited a week before I sent it. I wanted to let it calm down. I know he was being besieged by a lot of different things going on, and just let it cool down for a week.
Then I sent him a text, It basically said, as you know, I’m your friend. I know this is a difficult moment. We’ve all been there as champions.
We all lose. Unfortunately, it just happened, and the raw emotion of it, it’s still there, and it’s going to be there for, I’m sure, some time. The faster he’s able to get back on a horse and get back into contention, like he did last week, the better it is for him.
What do you consider the most crushing loss you’ve had in your career and how long did it take you to process it?
TIGER WOODS: Probably the hardest loss to get over was losing to YE Yang at the 2009 PGA Championship.
It was hard because had the lead and I had never lost a major championship while leading. That was the first. It took a little bit of time to get over that because I made some pretty stupid mistakes in the middle part of the final round.
I made a huge rally at the end, but too late. You can’t afford to make the mistakes that I made and expect to win tournaments. I know better than that.
In regards to this week, it’s obviously a lot different to what the guys play week in and week out. How have you adapted your setup in your bag? Have you changed any particular clubs?
TIGER WOODS: Let’s see. I’m monkeying around with the bounce on my 60° wedge. I got a couple 60s I’m kind of experimenting right now, one with a little bit less bounce for the chipping areas.
Also, I like the way my older 60 is going through the bunkers and then getting out. It’s not digging. So I’ve got to make a call on that.
I just bent my 3-iron yesterday one degree stronger just to be able to hit it off the deck and get that thing down and flighted and running. And I added lead tape to my putter just because the greens are so slow.
Keegan Bradley has only just been appointed Ryder Cup captain for next year, but there’s already a lot of speculation about who might captain the United States in Ireland in 2027. What would be your feelings on being a captain there?
TIGER WOODS: As I said, I’ll put my hat in the ring again when I have more time and I feel like I can devote myself to a Ryder Cup.
As of right now, I’ve got so many different things I’m juggling and trying to get right at the same time for all the players that are a part of the PGA TOUR. It’s one of those things where you just can’t get it wrong.
In your role as a negotiator or being involved in the negotiations between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, can you tell us whether you think the light at the end of the tunnel is any nearer than it was?
TIGER WOODS: I can tell you we’re making progress. I can’t tell you more than that just because we’re not going to negotiate on the outside.
We’ve got to keep everything at a high level and private, but things are moving and things are changing. It’s evolving each and every day.
There’s e-mails and chains and texts and ideas that we bounce back and forth from both sides.
There’s a good interchange of ideas and thoughts of how the game could look like going forward.
It’s just a matter of putting that all together legally. Obviously, we have the Department of Justice with oversight looking into that as well and making sure that we don’t do anything improperly there, as well, but also making sure that all the players benefit from this as well as everyone who’s involved.
They want to make money as well. They want to make that return. We’re now into not just charitable endeavours, we’re into a for-profit model. So we have to make returns.
Would you say you’re happy with the way things are going?
TIGER WOODS: Yes, I am.