Tiger Woods makes his 23rd Open Championship appearance this week and he has an incredible record on links golf courses with three Claret Jug wins.
The 15-time Major champion will have now played in all four Majors in a season for the first time in five years, but he has not had a year to savor so far.
Woods made the cut at The Masters for a record 24th consecutive time in April before finishing bottom of the pile over the weekend and then missing the cuts at the PGA Championship and US Open in his next, and only, two outings.
Interestingly, Woods didn’t opt for his usual week of links golf practice in Ireland ahead of this year’s Open, which perhaps hints that he has either been too busy with his off-course duties or more likely that his body just isn’t quite where he’d like it to be.
He arrived in the UK on Sunday, which is rather late for him by usual standards, and played 18 holes on both Sunday and Monday. He’ll now look to conserve energy with nine-hole days and maybe even a full rest day before Thursday.
So can he make the weekend at Troon? Or could he even go on to challenge for another Major trophy?
Golf Monthly staff members and contributors discuss Tiger Woods’ Open chances…
Woods is surely going to be rusty once again after missing the cut at the US Open last month and then playing no further tournaments. I’ve been a huge believer in him over these latter years in his career (I still think he can win another Major but has to play more) but sadly I think he’s going to need to be on the right side of the draw to even make the cut.
The Open Championship weather forecast doesn’t look like it’s going to work in his favor – his last ‘good’ Open was Carnoustie 2018 where it was hot and baked out.
Woods has driven it great over the last couple of years but everything else hasn’t been sharp enough to compete at the top level due to his lack of tournament reps. If he can make the cut this week then it’d have to go down as a very good result.
I can’t say I’m too hopeful, but there’s also a part of me that hopes he can get off to a flying start in some calm conditions and get himself into the golf tournament – which he has not been able to do in recent times.
If hot weather was forecast and the fairways were fast and bouncy, I’d fancy his chances. But they’re not – so I…
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