In-form Tiger ready to roar

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.

This 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 Hero 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 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 37 th 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. I feel a little bit more prepared, a little bit better and hopefully that translates into playing the golf course,” he said. “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 there centre design at Sherwood, he added 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. “Some of the contours are gone and so it’s a bit different. The redo has made this golf course more member-friendly and I think that the scores will be awfully low this week.”

Woods, 44, has his eyes fixed on defending the Masters in November but admits an element of uncertainty in his preparations, given the rejigged calendar.

“We’ ll see how this week goes and make a decision from there,” he said.

“The fact that the Masters will be held in November is unprecedented, it’s never been done before. I can’t simulate the normal ramp-up that I normally have and I don’t think anyone else can either.”

● World number one Dustin Johnson will not be among a 78-strong field this week following a positive test for Covid-19.

FEELING FINE: Tiger Woods is building towards the defence of his Masters title next month.