THE OPEN IS MY BEST CHANCE OF WINNING A MAJOR AGAIN
Woods: Creativity can trump big hitting here
Twenty-three years have washed along the Barry Burn since tiger woods experienced links golf for the first time at the Scottish Open at Carnoustie.
At the same venue, as he prepares for his first Open since 2015, he recalled the shock and wonder he felt as if it was yesterday.
tiger smiled broadly as he reminisced on the fact it took him two hours to move from the practice ground. he was 19 and the US Amateur champion, and he could not get over the vastly different ways you could hit the ball 100 yards.
A four iron, a nine iron, a five iron and a wedge…on it went before he had tried every one.
‘Are you ever going to hit a shot further than 100 yards?’ his dad earl said to him at one point. ‘no, I’m just enjoying this,’ came the reply. ‘this is the best.’
when he finally made it on to the course, tiger found himself 120 yards from the green at the second... and decided to use his putter.
‘there were just so many cool moments like that,’ he said, with joy in his eyes. ‘I’d grown up in California with kikuyu grass, where nothing rolls and the game is vertical. now here I was, being asked to be creative and use my mind. It stuck with me, as you can tell with the way I’m telling the story now.
‘that was my introduction to links golf. Carnoustie that week and then on to St Andrews the following week for the Open. Doesn’t get any better than that.’
Of all the things that tiger missed about golf during the dark days recovering from back operations, playing at the Open might have been top.
‘ever since I first came over, it’s been my favourite type of golf to play,’ he said. ‘I like the fact it’s all about feel, that you know you’re not going to get the most perfect bounces and the challenge that presents.’
there was a moment of levity when woods was asked if the Open offered him his best chance to end a decade of hurt and win another major.
‘not to be smart, but it is the next major I’m playing,’ he said, before tackling what the questioner really meant. ‘I think in the long term, certainly, I would say yes because you don’t have to be long off the tee to play a links.
‘you go to places like Augusta national, where it’s just a big ball park and the golf course outgrows you, unfortunately. But on a links, you can roll the ball. here this week I’ve hit a three iron 330 yards, and when I’m older I’ll be able to chase a wood down there the same distance.
‘Creativity plays such an important role, and that’s why you had tom watson almost winning at the age of 59, and Greg norman was right there at Birkdale in 2008 at the age of 53 or 54.’
the last time he came here, in 2007, woods was seeking to make it three Claret Jugs in a row and was the prohibitive favourite. this time he is a 28-1 shot.
there are those who are writing off his comeback already and saying he will never win again but the sage approach is surely the one urging patience. Let’s not forget that he has still not played a dozen tournaments after years when he wasn’t able to practise properly or play at all.
During his 11 events, he has mustered four top-five finishes and progressed from 666th in the world in January to 71st — and there are plenty of shrewd judges who quietly fancy his chances this week.
‘each tournament I keep coming back to, I feel a little better because I’m starting to play some golf again,’ he said. ‘My feels are getting better all the time as I gain a better understanding of my body, my swing and my game. now, the opportunity to come back here to Scotland and Carnoustie, I’ve said this before this year but it’s a blessing.
‘I can’t help but think of the times when I didn’t think I’d be able to do this again and lo and behold, here I am playing my third major of the year.’
there is no disguising the frisson of excitement his presence creates. ‘It’s just great to have him back, isn’t it?’ said a beaming Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the r&A.
there have been two Opens at Carnoustie since it returned to the rota after an absence of 24 years — in 1999 and 2007 — and the only man to finish in the top 12 at both just happens to be woods.
here, we will get an unexpected chance to appreciate once more
one of the great links strategists ts of the last 20 years, piercing ng fairways with his ‘stinger’ iron n shots and discovering whether er enough remains of that once e imperious short game for him m to win.
Ben Hogan was just shy of his s 42nd birthday when he came to o Carnoustie and won the Open n in 1953, his body rebuilt following - a serious car accident.
Now here comes another r ravaged American legend almost the same age — Tiger was 42 in December — thinking back wistfully to carefree days as a teenager and intent on scripting an Open story to rank among the greatest of all time.