Tiger Woods, the 15-time major champion, opened out about his future after shooting an eight-over-par 79 in his opening round at The Open on Thursday.
Tiger Woods, who acknowledged that he was “too optimistic” when he made his season-long plans, has stated that he hopes to play more competitive golf in 2025.
Woods’ Open Championship got off to a less than perfect start at Royal Troon on Thursday, where he opened with a dismal eight-over-par 79. The 15-time major winner is still dealing with a variety of physical issues, and this week he is making just his fifth start of the year in Scotland.
Colin Montgomerie proposed that the 82-time PGA Tour winner should end his career in the midst of Woods’ recent setbacks. Even if his week at Royal Troon does not go as planned, it seems he has plans to carry on.
“Hopefully, next year will be a little bit better than this year,” Woods said after his first-round performance to reporters. Speaking at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December of last year, the 48-year-old stated that after playing just three times in 2023, he hoped to be able to play once a month this year.
Nevertheless, this strategy did not work out, as Woods only made five starts in the first seven months of 2024. He acknowledged in the post-game interview on Thursday that although he might have exceeded this goal, his body does feel better than it did at the start of the campaign.
“Earlier in the year, I felt like I could play a little bit more. I believe my optimism was a tad bit excessive. I have to work out much more and keep making the kind of improvement we have,” he said. “Compared to the start of the year, I feel much better physically.
“I haven’t played a lot because of the difficult end of last year. I believe that I have improved throughout the course of the year. Just in case I do something really big and then take a break from it, I’ve been saving it for the majors. I only wish I could have played a little bit more.”
Naturally, he will be hoping for a better showing on Thursday, as Woods has given himself plenty of work to do on day two in order to guarantee a spot for the weekend. The three-time Open champion’s two birdies of the day at the third and thirteenth holes were negated by six bogeys and two double bogeys.
He remarked, going into great detail about his afternoon: “Today, I didn’t do a lot of things well. After making the putt on the third hole, I believe I made three 3-putts today. I didn’t give myself a lot of attention today and I didn’t hit my irons particularly closely.To start something on the weekend, I have to shoot something in the mid-60s tomorrow.” On Friday, Woods will return to action in the second round at 9:25 a.m. BST.
