Woods eager to put the horrid past to bed

ANYBODY who can moor their £15million (R265-million), 47.2-metre yacht in the Hamptons should obviously be thankful for what they have but, for Tiger Woods, his presence here this week has added resonance.

A year ago, the 42-year-old was in the early stages of recovery from a spinal fusion, just a few weeks removed from an embarrassing arrest after being found slumped over his steering wheel under the influence of pain medication. With the world’s ridicule once more heaped upon his shoulders, he watched the US Open from his sofa, texting his friends on tour as to the benign nature of Erin Hills.

At that point, even being able to compete in the 118th staging of his national championship seemed implausible if not impossible, never mind being rated as fifth-favourite.

“No, there was really no expectation to have the thought that I could actually be here,” Woods said on Tuesday. “I had just been given the OK to start walking again. Forget golf – it was about just having my standard of life back. Can I actually participate in my kids’ lives again? That was the main goal.

“So, to go from there to where I’m at now is pure bonus and to be able to have this opportunity to play against these guys, the best in the world, is just a great feeling and one that I don’t take for granted.”

Of course, Woods is not here simply to be grateful, and his results since his return to competition six months ago suggest he could be as much of a factor as the 16-1 odds indicate. What he and, indeed, the majority of the golf world, would give for him to break his barren run here on Sunday. It is 10 years to the week since he won the last of his 14 majors at Torrey Pines.

“I have been there [in contention] on a number of occasions to win a major since the 2008 US Open, and I haven’t done it,” said Woods. “I don’t like that feeling.”

It is ironic that Woods is staying on the boat he named Privacy while craving the hysterical publicity that would greet No 15, although, as Jordan Spieth pointed out, “all he’d be asked about then is, is he going to get to 18?”

Woods would not be moaning and, as he raved about Shinnecock, it was easy to get carried away and believe we could witness his first win of any description in five years.

“This course is going to be a great US Open test,” he said.

And after his ball-striking display at the Memorial two weeks ago, he has every right to be confident. Woods ranked first in the strokes-gained-tee-to-green and the proximity-to-the-hole charts, but finished 23rd. That had everything to do with his astonishing letdown on the greens. He was second from last in putting.

However, after a week’s practice and nine holes on Monday with Steve Stricker – the veteran pro who has long acted as Woods’s putting coach – he feels he has turned a corner and will be aided by a return to the grass of his childhood. “My stroke feels good, and we’re back on old bumpy poa,” he said.

It was all extremely positive and a huge transformation from the last time he was here, in 2004. Then, he stepped off the course and accused the organisers of “losing control of the course”.

“It’s terrible – this is our national championship,” he said. “This is not the way it’s supposed to be played.”