Woods gearing up for tilt at his sweet 16th

Tiger Woods is confident he can win a 16th major title in the US PGA Championship, despite heading into the event with just four competitive rounds under his belt since mid-February.

“Of course,” Woods answered with a smile when asked with the final question of his pretournament press conference if he could win.

The 44-year-old returned to action at the Memorial Tournament in July following five months on the sidelines due to injury and the coronavirus pandemic but looked understandably rusty in finishing in a tie for 40th at Muirfield Village.

However, Woods has plenty of good memories of this week’s venue to draw upon when play gets under way tomorrow, having defeated John Daly in a playoff to win the WGC-American Express Championship in 2005 and also compiling a perfect 5-0 record in the 2009 Presidents Cup.

“I feel good,” Woods said. “Obviously I haven’t played much competitively, but I’ve been playing a lot at home so I’ve been getting plenty of reps that way.

“Competitively I haven’t played that much, but the results that I’ve seen at home, I’m very enthusiastic about some of the changes I’ve made and so that’s been positive.

“I’m just trying to get my way back into this part of the season. This is what I’ve been gearing up for. We’ve got a lot of big events starting from here, so looking forward to it.

“This is going to be a fun test for all of us. The rough is up and fairways are much more narrow than they were here in 2009.”

● Graeme Ferguson aced the 181yd 12th hole at Craibstone using a 3 iron. He was partnered by Christopher Cockrill and Kevin Cockrill.

Tiger Woods