Tiger Woods holds fond memories of 2006 victory at Royal Liverpool

HOYLAKE, England — Tiger Woods is missed this week at the 151st British Open at Royal Liverpool. But that doesn’t mean he has been forgotten.

Woods, who won the Claret Jug here in 2006, was honored on Tuesday evening at the annual Association of Golf Writers dinner. Woods, who had ankle surgery in April and is sidelined indefinitely, received an award for outstanding services to golf. Woods delivered a recorded acceptance speech from his Florida home. He highlighted his victory at Hoylake, where he sobbed on the shoulder of his caddie Steve Williams after tapping in to secure the win just two months after the death of his father, Earl.

“That week in 2006 was a very emotional one,” Woods said in the recorded message. “It was the first championship I ever won without my dad being there. It was a tough, tough week, but also probably the most gratifying. After my last putt I realized my dad was never going to see this again.”

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It marked the last of Woods’s three Claret Jugs in 22 appearances. He also noted the third-round 81 he shot in dreadful conditions at Muirfield in 2002.

“That was the worst day I have ever known and probably the worst in the history of golf,” he said. “I have never felt that cold on a course, I have never felt that wet and have never felt that miserable. I remember a couple of my friends among the writers from the UK offering me coffee when I walked in to speak. That was great.”