Tiger’s ready to Wing it in the toughest of conditions
TIGER Woods is expecting the toughest of tests at this week’s US Open at Winged Foot, a course he regards as being in the top three for difficulty in major championship golf.
When this famous old tournament was last staged at Winged Foot, in 2006, Australian Geoff Ogilvy claimed victory with a score of five over.
Woods can’t see this week being a lot different, at a course he rates as one of the three toughest alongside Oakmont and Carnoustie. ‘I think those three golf courses, they can host major championships without ever doing anything to them,’ Woods said.
‘The winning scores here have never traditionally been very low. I don’t see that changing this week.
‘The golf course is going to be hard. It depends on how difficult they want to set up these pins, give us a chance at it. But with the forecast, it’s going to be difficult no matter what.’
Woods reflected more on that last US Open at this venue in 2006, admitting he had not fully grieved for his father when he missed the cut. Following the death of his dad Earl, Woods returned to competitive action at Winged Foot following a nine-week lay-off and, perhaps unsurprisingly, shot 12 over par to miss the cut for the first time in 38 majors as a professional.
‘When I didn’t win the Masters, that was really tough to take because that was the last event my dad was ever going to watch me play,’ Woods said.
‘He passed not too long after that and, quite frankly, when I got ready for this event, I didn’t really put in the time. I didn’t really put in the practice, and consequently missed the cut pretty easily. I think it was just... I was not prepared to play and still dealing with the death of my dad.’