Tiger’s tentative support for BLM ahead of awaited return

TIGER WOODS tempered enthusiasm with words of caution when asked about the Black Lives Matter movement that has made its presence felt in every city in America during his five months out of the spotlight. As he prepares to end his own extended lockdown in the company of Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka in a high-profile threeball at the Memorial tournament in Ohio tomorrow, Woods commented: ‘I think change is fantastic, as long as we make the changes without hurting the innocent, and unfortunately that has happened. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen going forward, but a movement and change is how society develops. ‘That’s how we grow and move forward. That’s how we have fairness. Hopefully, we don’t lose any more innocent lives, as we move to a better place socially.’ Never the most political of animals, it is hard to imagine the 44-year-old former Stanford graduate following up with any grandiose gestures of support for the BLM movement before teeing off tomorrow. During his time away, Woods’s health improved to the point where he resumed playing tennis for the first time in 20 years. As for his return to action, when McIlroy played alongside Woods in the first round of the Genesis Invitational last year, the noise from the crowd was so loud the Northern Irishman came off the course with a headache. Such has been life on tour for 24 years now for Tiger, a riotous kaleidoscope of sound and colour that he learned to harness to his advantage. It is going to be fascinating, therefore, to see how he copes without the crowds. ‘It’s not just that everything looks different, but the energy is clearly different,’ he said.