Woods: Missed chance at Open ‘stings’

Tiger Woods admits letting a 15th major title slip from his grasp will “sting for a while” after readjusting his expectations on his latest comeback from injury.

After undergoing spinal fusion surgery in April last year, Woods was unsure that he would ever be able to play golf again, let alone to the sort of level which made him the most successful player of his generation. But the 42-yearold has recorded four top-10 finishes in 12 events this season and had several chances to win, most recently in the Open Championship at Carnoustie where he led by a shot with eight holes to play.

However, Woods ran up a double bogey on the 11th and dropped another shot on the 12th and eventually finished three shots behind playing partner Francesco Molinari.

“I said it was going to sting for a while and it certainly does because I had a great chance at it,” Woods, whose last major title came in the 2008 US Open, said. “I played myself into a great position, I actually ended up leading outright for just a little bit.”

A tie for sixth place was at least enough to give Woods the consolation of qualifying for this week’s Wgc-bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron by virtue of scraping into the world’s top 50 by a fraction of a world ranking point.