Woods sounds positive and is up for a big week

Yesterday was the final practice round for this week’s 104th USPGA Championship at Southern Hills CC, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Players, coaches, caddies, managers, family and everyone around the players try to keep the routine of a Major week, as if it is a normal tournament week, but this is not easy, with big crowds on practice days, heightened media demands and we all know it is a Major week as the excitement builds for everyone.

There are no Pro-Ams in the Majors, so yesterday, all my six players were planning to play just nine holes to save their energy and be ready for the first round today.

I spoke to Tiger Woods whilst sharing a golf cart sitting on the range on Tuesday, and he told me he has not practised hard since The Masters.

As he gets older (now 46 years of age) he cannot make too many demands on his body, but that has given him so much more time to spend on his short game, which he claims is ‘pretty sharp.’

Tiger is looking good, sounds positive and seemingly up for a big week.

The draw for Round One has been published and by all weather forecasts, it sounds like the wind will be up. It looks like the winds may be as strong as 31km/h and temperatures over 30 degrees for some time during the first two days, it could well be that there may well be a ‘luck of the draw,’ factor, with one half of the draw lucky and the other half unlucky, for the first two rounds. That is often the name of the game for golf, most usually experienced at The Open.

Peter Cowen, 71, is a Dubai Golden Visa awardee and one of the leading golf coaches of the world