Wood in a ‘mess’ with swing and confidence
Chris Wood said he was still feeling the effects of a technical breakdown in his swing as he shot a disappointing round of 74 to slip down the Open leaderboard.
Wood had surged through the field on the third day of the championship, but his challenge was undone by four bogeys on the back nine of the fourth round.
“I am not hitting the ball well enough at all,” Wood said. “I have not been striking the ball well enough for a long time now. When you are not quite striking the ball in conditions like this, the wind can get the better of you.”
Wood, the world No94, eventually finished at level par and tied for 28th position.
“I have been in a right mess technically for about 18 months now,” he said. “It has been a struggle to try to get a decent ball flight back.
“I’m just starting to. I’m seeing signs of it. You are not seven under through 13 playing Carnoustie without doing some good stuff. But it is the consistency really. The first couple of days, I struggled with that, and my confidence goes.
“As long as I can get my ballstriking back to where I want it, I won’t be far off again. Every year I play the Open, I feel encouraged that next year I might give it a run. It is the same again this year, despite the way I felt like I played.”
Wood is planning to embrace developments in sports science to help take his game to a new level. “Golf is a long way behind,” he said. “I am actually due to go to Bath University the next couple of weeks for some body scans actually. That’s been set up through the tour – they have got some good connections.”