Tiger Woods Vows to Continue Open Quest Despite Troon Setback

Tiger Woods Vows to Continue Open Quest Despite Troon Setback

 

Multiple major winner Tiger Woods experienced a humbling two days at The Open, yet remains resolute about his future in the tournament.

Despite equaling his worst score for two rounds at a major, Woods confirmed his intention to compete in next year’s Open at Royal Portrush. The American golf legend, who has been grappling with fitness issues following a severe car crash in 2021, shot a 77 in the second round at Troon, following a first-round 79. His total of 156 strokes matched his performance at the 2015 US Open.

 

At 14-over, Woods was near the bottom of the leaderboard, but he insists the disappointing performance hasn’t deterred him from future participation.

 

“It wasn’t very good. I made a stumble at two when I needed to go the other way and I was just fighting it pretty much all day,” he reflected after missing his third consecutive cut at The Open. “I never hit it close enough to make birdies and made a lot of bogeys.

 

“I loved it. I always loved playing major championships, I just wish I was more physically sharp coming into the majors. It tests you mentally, physically, and emotionally, and I wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be. I was hoping I’d find it somehow but I never did. Consequently, my scores were pretty high.

 

“I’ve missed playing Troon, it’s been a long time as I remember playing way back in 1997. I’ve had some good memories here, I just wish I’d done a little bit better.”

 

Looking ahead to Portrush, where he missed the cut in 2019, Woods confidently stated, “Next year’s Open. Oh yeah.”

 

This year, the 15-time major winner set a record by making his 24th consecutive cut at the Masters in April, but he struggled over the weekend at Augusta National, shooting 82 and 77. He also made early exits from the US PGA Championship and US Open.

 

Due to his ongoing rehabilitation, Woods has only competed in major tournaments this year. He does not plan to play again until the Hero World Challenge, which benefits his foundation, and the PNC Championship, where he will team up with his 15-year-old son, Charlie.

 

“No, I’m not going to play until then. I’m going to just keep getting physically better and keep working on it,” he said. “Hopefully just come back for our, what is it, our ‘fifth major’, the father/son, so looking forward to it.

 

“I’d have liked to have played more but I wanted to make sure I played the major championships this year. I got a lot of time off to get better, to be better physically, which has been the case all year. I’ve gotten better, even though my results really haven’t shown it, but physically I’ve gotten better, which is great.

 

“I just need to keep progressing like that and then eventually start playing more competitively and start getting into kind of the competitive flow again.”