Tiger Woods plays down lack of Open preparation, instead insisting Thailand break will help his golf
Two hours after his private jet touched down, Tiger Woods was on the first tee here taking his first trip around Royal Portrush and while the fans were ecstatic at last to have the icon in town - as the atmosphere builds for Northern Ireland’s first Open Championship in 68 years - his body language did nothing to ease the fears of all those who believe something to be amiss in his preparations for the season’s final major.
Playing 18 holes in the company of Patrick Reed, his Ryder Cup partner, Woods looked at best sluggish and rusty and at worst completely out of sorts, wrapped up in three layers, while the locals walked around in polo shirts.
As a 43-year-old man with a fused spine who had just travelled overnight from Florida, perhaps this was nothing out of ordinary and when talking to reporters - albeit in weary tones - he maintained that the absence of a warm-up tournament since last month’s US Open is a positive rather than the negative that the likes of Padraig Harrington have signposted.
"The break is always great for my golf, especially now," Woods said. "I told you guys last year I wouldn't be playing as much this year, and it's going to turn out that way.”
Harrington, the Europe Ryder Cup captain, expressed his belief that “if you’re serious about winning the Open you’ve got to be playing tournament golf beforehand” and Woods’s schedule does not inspire confidence in him being match fit for Thursday’s first round of the 148th Open Championship. It has been decidedly top-heavy and would suggest that everything was geared towards the Masters - where he, of course, won his first major in 11 years - and not much thereafter.
Up to and including Augusta in April, Woods played six tournaments in the first 12 weeks of his campaign - and in the 12 weeks since he has played three tournaments. The discrepancy works out at 25 competitive rounds compared to 10. Woods missed the cut in the USPGA after skipping straight from major and then finished tied ninth at The Memorial before a tie for 21st at the US Open four weeks ago. Immediately after Pebble Beach, Woods embarked on a two-week holiday to Thailand, with his mother, Tida, children, Charley and Sam and girlfriend Erica Herman. Quite understandably, his priorities were not his profession as he showed his offspring his mother’s homeland.
"We had the greatest time," Woods said. "Sam's birthday was over there. We rode elephants, went on a safari, visited the islands. It was an experience. Especially since my mom's health is diminishing and we're not sure how many times she can do this. They understand the culture there a little bit more, the things they didn't really know about. It was pretty cool for them to experience that at such a young age.
"I just helped with them. I knew from being over there, I knew the culture, I was raised with it. The only thing I didn't try was the spicy food. Not happening again.”
He was similarly restrained when it came to his game. "Zero," Woods replied when he was asked how many shots he hit on vacation. "The clubs stayed in the travel case, like I told you guys, I wouldn't touch them. I didn't do a damn thing. I putted as soon as I got back and then built it up from there."
Even with two weeks full practice under his belt, Woods is adamant he will be ready and just needs to learn the subtleties of this 7,344-yard links over the next three days. “There is a lot of movement; a lot of decision off the tees, angles," he said. "With the wind switching and coming out of the south in the future, a lot of these shots we hit today are useless. Trying to figure out what lines to take, what lines to take on, what lines not to take on. And then these green complexes are so complicated, you have to miss the ball in the right spots.”
Reed said all the right things about his round with Woods. “This was kind of normal for a Sunday before an event,” he said. “We have a long way to go getting ready, but there are a lot of days in between. With all those flights and you get here and in the afternoon you lie down, there is not much mobility and you stiffen up and slow down.
“Today instead of grinding on the driving range and hitting a bunch of balls, it was about going on to the course to see shots.”
And how does he think Woods will fare as he looks for his fourth Claret Jug, and his first 13 years? “With how well Tiger has been playing this year you never know what to expect,” Reed said. ”He has had a month off but that can work in your favour. At the same time he is re-energised and ready to strike."
