Tiger’s back ...but no one is watching
TEN minutes before the start of the World Cup final and two-thirds of the way through the Wimbledon men’s equivalent, Tiger Woods made his way to the first tee for his first sighting at an Open for three years.
If the plan was to keep his initial preparations as low-key as possible, he could not have picked a more appropriate time to play.
In the tented village, a few people moved away from the big screen showing the footie to watch, but that was about all.
Tiger took one look at the burnished fairway in front of him, reached for a long iron, and struck one of those fabulous ‘stinger’ shots he has perfected over the years, the ball barely rising 15 feet off the ground and finishing in the middle of the fairway.
Awaiting him was a course not dissimilar to the hard and fast links at Hoylake in 2006, where Woods emerged the winner while hitting just one driver all week.
This one is going to be all about strategy, too, and perhaps Woods can draw upon what he did at Royal Liverpool 12 years ago when he delivered perhaps the ultimate Open masterclass.
A lot of water has passed along the Barry Burn since then, of course, not to mention countless debilitating operations in Woods’s case. But his delight in being back at The Open was plain.
‘This is the oldest championship we have in our sport and I have missed it,’ he said afterwards.
He restricted himself to eight holes, but it was enough to get an idea of the test ahead.
‘It’s going to be one of those weeks where the fairways are faster than the greens,’ he said. ‘I hit a seven-iron off the tee on one par four to stay short of a hazard 300 yards from the tee, that’s how fast it’s playing. Now I have a lot of work ahead of me over the next three days. It’s not a matter of reacquainting myself with links golf but the fact we rarely see fairways this quick.’
Out on the links was a stellar cast including Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and the world’s No1 and No2, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas.
Meanwhile, Ian Poulter last night denied claims that he abused a marshal at the Scottish Open during his third round on Saturday.
Poulter was alleged to have aimed a ‘shower of expletives’ at Quintin Jardine, a Scottish crime author who was volunteering at Gullane, after he refused to venture into a bush to help the player find his ball on the first hole.
Jardine, who wrote to the tournament organisers, said: ‘I wasn’t expecting thanks, but I wasn’t expecting aggression either. Industrial language doesn’t bother me but truculent aggression does. I would like him to be reminded that, even though most of the world knows you’re an a ****** e, there’s no need to go proving it to the rest.’
Poulter insisted: ‘I don’t abuse volunteers. I might have done 15 or 16 years ago, but these guys are here to help us out.
The Scottish title was won by Brandon Stone, who finished on 20 under par after breaking the Gullane course record with a final round of 60. Stone, 25, would have become the first to shoot a 59 for a round on a European Tour event if he’d holed a birdie putt on the 18th.
Englishman Eddie Pepperell finished second on 16-under. Poulter was 30th, seven shots further back.