US golfer Tiger Woods catches a ball during a practice round at St Andrews in Scotland yesterday. (AFP)
AFP/St Andrews
Tiger Woods says that age and injuries have failed to diminish his will to win and that more major titles are still possible as he approaches his 40th birthday.
Speaking yesterday ahead of his fifth British Open at St Andrews, the former world number one spoke of recent hard times and the increasingly distant good times in his golf career.
Questioned at his pre-tournament press conference if he had ever harboured thoughts of retirement during his bleak spell this year, Woods shot back: “Well, retirement? I don’t have any AARP (retirement) card yet, so I’m a ways from that. I feel like my body is finally healed up from the (back) surgery from last year.
“You know, they say it takes you about four to six months to get back, but I’ve heard a lot of guys on tour who have had the surgery and other athletes say it takes over a year to get back.
“I think they were there probably closer to being right, it being a full year to get back.”
Woods feels that time is on his side as he continues his quest to add to the 14 major title wins he has and close the gap on the all-time record of 18 held by Jack Nicklaus.
But his last win in a Grand Slam event came over seven years ago at the US Open, his last win in a British Open was at Hoylake at 2006 and his last at St Andrews was in 2005.
Injuries and changes to his swing pattern have dominated his game for the last two years reaching a nadir this year when he clocked up career-worst scores on the PGA Tour and in the US Open, where he missed the cut, and a best finish of tied 17th in the Masters.
But St Andrews and the Old Course could, he feels, hold the key to helping him return to former glories.
It’s his favourite course anywhere and if there is one place that can inspire him to revive his flagging fortunes—alongside Augusta National—it is St Andrews.
He knows the Old Course like the back of his hand, having won his first Open title there by eight strokes in 2000 and then again, by five strokes, in 2005.
“You know, obviously it’s the Home of Golf, we all know that. But to me it’s brilliant, how you can play it so many different ways,” he said.
“I’ve always wanted to play it one time—before I die I want to play it one time backwards. I’d love to be able to play it that way, just one time. I think that would be just a blast.”
Despite his innate knowledge of the course, Woods was one of the first golfers to arrive at St Andrews, teeing off last Saturday for the first time since he tied for 23rd place in 2010.
He was surprised at what he found.
“It’s playing a little bit differently than we’ve had in previous Opens, or the previous Opens that I’ve played in,” he said. “It’s a little bit softer and I’m sure it’s going to get even softer with the forecast (rain) for Friday. It’ll be playing a little bit differently this year.”
“The only time I’ve ever seen it like this was when we played the Dunhill Cup in ‘98. It was cold and soft then, and it’s obviously not as cold now, but it’s playing about the same type of firmness. It’s just not quite chasing.”
Tiger also had some advice for fellow countryman Jordan Spieth. The 21-year-old Spieth has played the Home of Golf on a simulator but is yet to complete a competitive round on the Fife links and Woods said he would quickly need to learn how to plot his way round.
“It’s about understanding how to play the golf course under various winds,” Tiger said.
“Having to hit the different shots, shaping shots completely different from one day to the next on the same hole, it does help seeing the golf course under different winds.”
Spieth’s course strategy was outstanding when he won the US Open last month and the US Masters in April and Woods has no doubt Spieth will fare well again if he maintains those high standards.
“Obviously, he’s in great form,” said the triple British Open champion. “It’s just a matter of going out there and executing his game plan.
“That’s what he talks about a lot, formulating a game plan and executing it, and this is a course in which you have to do that.
“You also have to be a very good lag putter because a good shot sometimes is going to be 40, 50, 60, 70 feet away and you just can’t get it close,” Woods added. The wind is blowing too hard. To be able to lag those putts stone dead is key.”
Woods has a mid-morning tee-time tomorrow going out in the company of 2010 champion at St Andrews Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and Australian shotmaker Jason Day.