Tiger Woods dishes unusually candid perspective on Rory McIlroy collapse
TROON, Scotland — Tiger Woods stands apart from the rest of us.
While most of us struggle to comprehend the effort required to win a single PGA Tour event, Woods has done so 82 times, including clinching 15 major championships. The skills and mental resilience necessary for these achievements are beyond our imagination.
Tiger’s legacy has often been rooted in the belief that he is fundamentally different — in a way that transcends mere talent. His otherworldliness has defined his career, making it all the more startling when he reveals his human side. Such a moment occurred on Tuesday morning at the Open Championship, where Woods addressed the hot topic of Rory McIlroy’s dramatic collapse at the U.S. Open.
In the immediate aftermath of McIlroy’s missed putts on the 16th and 18th holes at Pinehurst No. 2, the incident served to highlight Woods’ exceptional status. Unlike Rory, Tiger has never experienced such a publicly devastating failure despite many more opportunities to falter. This has fostered the myth that Woods is somehow above the ordinary pressures and fears that plague even the best golfers.
However, Woods had a chance to reinforce this image during his press conference at Royal Troon. The week prior, McIlroy had spoken openly about the “discomfort” he felt over his crucial two-foot par putt on the 16th hole — a putt that lipped out, causing a pivotal bogey. When asked if he had ever felt the same discomfort, Woods’ response was unexpected.
“Yeah, lots of times,” Woods admitted, pausing thoughtfully. “There’s a lot of times I felt discomfort.”
He paused again, a smile spreading across his face. “Nervous, shaky, uncomfortable, yeah, all of it.”
This admission seemed to unveil a deeper emotion, perhaps empathy. “You look at the highlights, I’ve missed plenty of putts. I’ve missed plenty of shots,” Woods continued, echoing Michael Jordan’s sentiment about the value of failure. “You see all the game-winning shots, but he’s missed a ton of game-winning shots, too. The thing is you still take the game-winning shot, and I still want the last putt.”
McIlroy had his chance and missed. Twice. After enduring a decade without a major championship, many view these misses as signs that McIlroy has lost his edge. Woods understands this scrutiny; he has faced similar doubts.
“Probably the hardest loss to get over was the Y.E. Yang loss because I had the lead,” Woods revealed, referring to his defeat in the 2009 PGA Championship. “I had never lost a major championship while leading. That was the first.”
Woods’ collapse during the Yang match differed from McIlroy’s recent struggle only in timing — Woods faltered in the middle of the final round, while McIlroy stumbled on his last shot. Few recall Woods’ missed six-footer for birdie on the first hole, his overly cautious approach on the par-5 7th, or his flubbed eight-footer for birdie on the 13th — except for Woods and Yang.
“Took a little bit of time to get over that because I had made some pretty stupid mistakes in the middle part of the round. I made a huge rally at the end, but [it was] too late,” Woods admitted. “I made too many mistakes in the middle. You can’t afford to make the mistakes that I made and expect to win tournaments. I know better than that.”
With the wisdom gained from a redemptive 15th major win in 2019, Woods reflects on his past with clarity. It took him a decade to overcome that nerve-wracking Sunday at Hazeltine. McIlroy, approaching a similar ten-year drought without a major championship, continues to grapple with his own challenges.
The difference on that Sunday in Augusta in 2019 was not that Woods was inherently different from McIlroy at Pinehurst in 2024 or from any other golfer. The difference was that in the critical moment, Tiger’s ball found the bottom of the hole.
“That’s part of it,” Woods concluded. “That’s why you love it.”
“That’s why we practice, to build up ourselves in that one uncomfortable situation … and bury the putt.”
