Tiger Woods responds after ‘ridiculous’ painkillers claim from TV commentator

Tiger Woods has shut down claims from a TV commentator that he needs painkillers to compete during The Open.The American shot a 79 on the first day at the Royal Troon course – leaving him eight over par, and with a hill to climb if he is to make the cut ahead of the weekend.But reflecting on his performance, Woods gave a realistic but optimistic assessment of his prospects as he also expressed his wishes to continue competing in the future.“I’m physically feeling a lot better than I did at the beginning of the year,” said Woods.“At the end of last year, it was tough and I haven’t played a whole lot but I think that, as the year has gone on, I have gotten better.”I just wish I could have played a little bit more but I’ve been saving it for the Majors just in case I do something pretty major and then take myself out of it. Hopefully next year will be a little bit better than this year.””I thought I could play a little bit more earlier in the year. I think I was a little bit too optimistic. I need to do a lot more work in the gym and keep progressing like we have.”The 48-year-old has 15 major championship wins under his belt, including three The Open Championships which he won in 2000, 2005 and 2006.But he has suffered with a number of injuries in recent years, including breaking his leg and ankle in a car crash in 2021, just months after he had undergone back surgery to remove a bone fragment.In April last year, he also underwent ankle surgery to treat post-traumatic arthritis.Earlier in the day, Sky Sports commentator and former player Mark Roe had sparked outrage by suggesting Woods looked as though he was on medication while playing.He had remarked of Woods while on air: “You look at the eyes, you gotta think there’s a lot of painkillers being taken to cope with the pain.”And fans were quick to take to X to hit back at Roe’s comments.One wrote: “An absolute crazy thing to say on air.”Another added: “Completely ridiculous and embarrassing to suggest this.”Despite the setback, Woods admitted he was determined to recover by posting a good score on the second day of the course.He added: “I didn’t do a whole lot of things right (on Thursday).“I made that putt on the 3rd hole and then I think I had three three-putts. I didn’t hit my irons very close and I didn’t give myself a whole lot of looks today.“I need to shoot something in the mid-60s (on Friday) to get something going on the weekend.”Woods teed off just before 9:30 on the second day, along with partners Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.