Tiger Woods has missed the reduce at The Open Championship.
The 15-time main winner shot a 6-over 77 on Friday, at some point after posting an 8-over 79 at Royal Troon. Solely a handful of others—together with Wyndham Clark—scored worse than his 14-over complete.
Woods seemed match, leaner, and walked higher than he did this week versus earlier this yr at Augusta Nationwide, the place he made the reduce and completed in solo sixtieth.
But his recreation was not sharp this time round. Woods missed loads of iron pictures, struggled across the greens, and couldn’t discover a constant stroke along with his putter.
That’s what occurs if you solely compete in main championships, probably the most tough tournaments of all of them. Gamers should be at their finest for these 4 occasions annually, however each participant takes a unique strategy to arrange. Some play in a match the week earlier than, like Rory McIlroy, whereas others, comparable to Scottie Scheffler, take time away to apply their video games. Others will go to the host venue properly prematurely to raised perceive the course, which is what Shane Lowry did this yr. However what each participant does—no matter their tour affiliation—is play competitively within the months earlier than majors.
Woods clearly is aware of the right way to put together for majors. His strategies and approaches have helped him win 15 of them. However his varied illnesses haven’t allowed him to compete as a lot as he would have wished, which maybe explains why he didn’t make the reduce at Valhalla, Pinehurst No. 2, and now, Royal Troon. The truth that he turns 49 years previous in December doesn’t assist, both.
At the least Woods feels higher this yr, or so he says.
“I’m bodily feeling so much higher than I did initially of the yr. On the finish of final yr, it was powerful, and I haven’t performed a complete lot,” Woods stated Thursday.
“I feel that, because the yr has gone on, I’ve gotten higher. I want I might have performed a bit of bit extra, however I’ve been saving it for the majors simply in case I do one thing fairly main [injury-wise] after which take myself out of it. Hopefully, subsequent yr can be a bit of bit higher than this yr.”
The important thing for Woods can be for him to play extra earlier than majors in 2025, maybe on the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February and The Gamers Championship in March. However solely time will inform if he can accomplish that.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By. Be sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
