The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Woods feels good ahead of Sherwood
Tiger Woods believes he has ironed out some of the kinks that affected his game at the US Open as he builds towards his defence of the Masters on one of his happiest hunting grounds.
Th is year ’s Zozo Championship has been relocated from its home in Japan to Sherwood Country Club in California – the venue at which Woods hosted his own He r o Challenge for more than a decade. In that time he claimed five victories and five second-placed finishes.
Having also won the title last year – a recordequalling 82nd PGA tour crown to take him level with Sam Snead – Woods, 44, is very much the man to beat this week.
That is an elevated status for a man whose best finish in four outings since the sport returned from its coronavirus shutdown is a tie for 37th and who missed the cut on the big stage at Winged Foot last month.
Woods, though, insists his form is tracking in the right direction.
“My game’s definitely better than it was at the US Open,” said the 15- time major winner who will defend his Masters title next month.
“I feel a little bit more prepared, a little bit better, and hopefu l ly that translates into playing the golf course.
“This golf course is typical Jack ( Nicklaus). Over the years, my iron game has been one of the stable parts of my game and normally Nicklaus golf courses reward good iron play. And over the course of my entire career, I’ve won on a lot of Nicklaus golf courses because of that.”
Noting the recent redesign at Sherwood, he added that it was likely to be a week of strong scores.
“The shape of the golf course hasn’t changed, but the greens have changed since the last time I played,” he said, quoted on the PGA Tour website.
“Some of the contours are gone and so it’s a bit different.
“The redo has made this golf course more memberfriendly and I think that the scores will be awfully low this week.”
Wo r l d No 1 Dustin Johnson will not be among a 78-strong field this week following a positive test for Covid-19, but Woods will be doing battle with 25 of the top 30 players.