British Open: Tiger Woods greatly repels the call to retire
The best advantage of victory in major is how to literally affect the entire career. The only major victory will guarantee that you will be playing for many years in the future, regardless of what is happening in your career. But the opposite is also true: if you don’t achieve that big win, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Tiger Woods hasn’t won the British Open since 2006. But he still won three times – three times more than you, me and Colin Montgomerie. Monty’s achievements are legion – he’s a decorated professional and a Ryder Cup champion, but he’s never won the British Open and came very close, finishing runner-up in 2005. He has only played in the tournament once in the last 14 years, finishing 78th in 2016.
Last weekend, Montgomerie called on Woods to retire once and for all. “You would have thought we were there, hadn’t we? We’ve been there before,” Montgomery said. “Every athlete has a time to say goodbye, but it’s very difficult to tell Tiger it’s time to say goodbye.”
Tiger Woods, who missed the cut in the past two majors, is still ready to play. (Associated Press/John Super)
Woods has never finished better than T37 in a major tournament in the 2020s and has withdrawn or failed to qualify in five of his past six majors. But even if his game is soft, his competitive advantage is doing so. Until this week, the United Kingdom was opened by Montgomery’s call and he stopped smiling forests.
\”As a past champion, I\’m exempt until I\’m 60,\” Woods said. \”Colin\’s not. He’s not a former champion, so he’s not exempt. So he doesn’t have the ability to make that decision. Yes.
Woods continues to recover from a series of injuries and surgeries. If there’s anything positive to take from his appearance in Troon this week, it’s that it will be the first time since 2019 that he will be in the field in all four major sports. “My training has gone a lot better. I’ve been working pretty hard in the gym and it’s been good.” “When you can do those things, your body feels better, which helps you hit the ball better,” he said. “It’s great to be able to do some of the things that I haven’t been able to do all year.”
Woods touched on many topics during the press conference, including why he wasn’t named Ryder Cup captain in 2025, a position that was ultimately given to Keegan Bradley. “I couldn’t make time,” he said. “I barely had time for what I’m doing now and the TGL next year and the Ryder Cup.” You add all that together and then with our negotiations with the [Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia], all that concurrently going on at exactly the same time, there\’s only so many hours in the day.\”
with PIF, the financial backer of LIV Golf and the driving force behind golf\’s current schism, Woods repeated a line he\’s often stated. \”We\’re making progress. “I can’t say any more because we’re not going to negotiate outside,” he said. “We have to keep everything secret at a high level, but everything moves, everything changes.” This evolves every day: there are emails, channels, messages, and ideas we exchange. …Now we are doing charitable as well as commercial activities. So we have to make [economic] profits. »
Regarding his own game, Woods reiterated that he did not enter the British Open as a ceremonial golfer. “I’m going to play as long as I can and I feel like I can still win,” he said. Asked directly if his belief that he could win had wavered, Woods simply said, “No.”
If Woods can sink a few more putts on the Royal Troon Course, like he did this week in Montgomerie, he might have a chance.
