There have been some incredible Open Championship renewals at Royal Troon with some legendary winners – but Tiger Woods is not one of those having missed out in both of his previous visits.
The battle for the Claret Jug has been staged three times at the Ayrshire course since Woods has been on the scene, but he’s played in just two of them.
Woods was out injured in 2016 and missed the famous event when Henrik Stenson pipped Phil Mickelson in an epic Sunday battle of brilliance.
The 15-time Major champion has lifted the Claret Jug himself three times, and did produce some decent golf during his two visits to Troon, but never managed to string four rounds together.
1997 – Winner: Justin Leonard
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Tiger’s Position: T24 (72, 74, 64, 74)
Not a vintage Open performance from Woods but he did throw in a scintillating third round of 64 on Saturday to fire himself into contention heading into Sunday.
It was much needed after a poor start that resulted in him finishing his second round way down in four over while Darren Clarke led on nine under.
It was not like Woods at all on Friday, as he shot a three-over 74 while the rest of the field were sticking low scores in all over the place, with four of the top five shooting 66.
Woods started Sunday in T8 but a long way back of leader Jesper Parnevik (eight shots) and while the Swede did falter down the stretch, it was a different American who came with a late run to capture the Claret Jug.
Justin Leonard shot a sparkling 65 to claim a three-shot victory, while Woods went in the other direction as he could only manage a closing 74.
2004 – Winner: Todd Hamilton
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Tiger’s Position: T9 (70, 71, 68, 72)
It was a similar story for Woods when he returned to Troon in 2004 with again the Saturday third round being his highlight when he carded a 68 to move up into T7.
That followed on from rather ordinary opening rounds of 70 and 71 to leave him on one under at halfway and six shots off leader Skip Kendall heading into the weekend.
Woods then went into the final round four shots off the lead, but once more he found it hard to make a dent on Sunday as he returned a one-over round of 72.
Instead, it was left to Todd Hamilton to win a thrilling playoff against Ernie Els to spring a big shock victory.
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