Tiger renews love of links at Carnoustie
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – A delighted Tiger Woods was back on beloved ancient ground Sunday for the first time since 2015. A bit past 3:45 p.m. local time, Woods stepped to the first tee at venerable Carnoustie to begin preparation for the 147th edition of the British Open Championship. It will be the first time in three years he’ll compete for the Claret Jug, the coveted silver trophy he has won three times.
“Coming here to Carnoustie, it is special,” said Woods, a winner of the Open in 2000 and 2005 at St Andrews and in 2006 at Hoylake. From his initial experience with links golf — he tied for 48th as an amateur in the 1995 Scottish Open at Carnoustie — Woods has loved using the olden ground to temper high winds and the imagination and creativity that come into play.
“From my first time coming here as
an amateur to being back now, it’s just amazing how this course doesn’t change,” said Woods, who tied for seventh in the 1999 Open at Carnoustie and in a tie for 12th here in the 2007 Open. “It is right in front of you. It is hard. It’s probably the most difficult one we play in the whole rotation.
“Right now, the fairways are faster than the greens. I am sure they will probably speed the greens up a touch, but I’m sure this will be one of those weeks where the fairways are a little quicker than the greens.”
That put a smile on his face, the difficulty and challenge that awaits. Little rain has dropped on the area for two months and a heat wave has turned the course brown and kept the rough wispy.
That poses challenges, especially with expected strong winds coming in off the North Sea. During his hybrid practice round, where he played holes
1-4 and 15-18, Woods and caddie Joe LaCava spent extra time trying to determine how much roll the concrete-like fairways will yield.
Woods hit 7-iron off the tee at the third hole, a par 4 of 350 yards. He hit a
3-iron off the tee at the 15th, a par 4 of
472 yards, another 3-iron at the 18th, a par 4 of 499 yards. The 7-iron traveled
230 yards, the 3-irons 335 yards. “That’s what is going to be important, how hot you want the ball coming into the fairways,” Woods said. “You can really make the ball roll 60, 70, 80 yards, but is it really worth it or not? It is a riskreward golf course, and the way it is set up right now, it is going to play very narrow because it is so fast.
“We don’t get a chance to see it quite this firm very often. It was like this in
2000 and like this at Hoylake. It is just one of these weeks where I don’t see a lot of guys hitting woods off the tees just because it is so quick. It is just going to be about trying to keep the ball out in front of you. It will be a lot of fun.”
Woods has been in a good mood since he landed Saturday morning after his red-eye flight over the pond. He conducted a clinic at Wembley Stadium before heading over to Wimbledon to watch the women’s singles final.
His enjoyment continued upon his arrival at Carnoustie. He is making his
12th start of the year and is coming off a tie for fourth place in the Quicken Loans National three weeks ago. That was his third top-10 of the year in which he’s climbed to No. 69 in the official world rankings after beginning 2018 ranked
656th. The betting parlors fancy his chances anywhere from 20-1 to 28-1 to win. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is the favorite at 12-1.
“I have a few more days to work on a few things and get the feel for playing this kind of golf again,” Woods said. “Probably the hardest thing when we come over here is the turf and how tight it is, how hard it can be, and playing the ball on the ground is different. It’s a feel thing. That’s the neat thing about coming to links courses, we play it as it is. It’s not tricked up and it’s right in front of us. It has been a while, and I’ve missed it.”
Kim gets first PGA Tour victory
Michael Kim won his first PGA Tour title, finishing a tournament-record 27 under par in the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois. With a 5-under-par 66 Sunday, he won by eight shots. Francesco Molinari, Joel Dahmen, Sam Ryder and Bronson Burgoon tied for second.
❚ Vijay Singh birdied the second playoff hole to beat Jeff Maggert and win the Constellation Senior Players Championship. Singh knocked in a putt from about
2 feet on the 18th hole in Highland Park, Illinois. Singh (67) and Maggert (68) had finished at 20-under 268.
❚ Laura Davies went virtually unchallenged in the final round of the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, claiming the title by 10 strokes over Juli Inkster in Wheaton, Illinois. Davies shot 5-under 68 to finish at 16-under 276.
❚ Thidapa Suwannapura beat Brittany Lincicome on the first playoff hole in the LPGA’s Marathon Classic in Sylvania, Ohio. Suwannapura closed with an eagle and birdie to get into the playoff.