TROON, Scotland (AP) — Tiger Woods is playing all four majors for the first time since 2019, which at the start of the year would have been cause for great optimism.
The results paint a different picture.
He set a Masters record by making his 24th consecutive cut at Augusta National. And then he was gone by the weekend at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. He hasn’t broken par since a 69 in the second round of the 2022 PGA Championship, and he needed that simply to make the cut.
His performance is starting to raise questions of how much longer he will play — how much longer he should play — to avoid lasting memories of a great champion slapping it around.
Leave it to Colin Montgomerie to put those thoughts into words found in a Times of London interview ahead of the British Open, when he said at one point, “What the hell is he doing?”
The entirety of what Montgomerie told the Times: “I hope people remember Tiger as Tiger was, the passion and the charismatic aura around him. There is none of that now. At Pinehurst he did not seem to enjoy a single shot and you think, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ He’s coming to Troon and he won’t enjoy it there, either.”
Woods already has enjoyed one aspect of his stay at Royal Troon. That came Tuesday when he was asked about Montgomerie’s comments. Woods relishes a chance to push back on criticism, particularly when the source is someone known for never winning a major.
“Well, as a past champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60,” Woods said, speaking to his time at the British Open. “Colin’s not. He’s not a past champion, so he’s not exempt. So he doesn’t get the opportunity to make that decision. I do.”
It brought up memories of an Open tradition some 20 years ago. Stewart McDougal was the press officer at the time, and he would ask Open champions who came into the press center to sign the table. At the end of the week, McDougal auctioned off the table for charity.
Montgomerie came in one day, saw all the signatures on the table and reached for pen.
“I’m sorry, Colin,” McDougal told him. “It’s only for Open champions.”
Poor Monty.
The questions are fair enough, but there is something to be said about golfers being able to decide when their time is done. And given all that Woods has done in the game, it’s probably not the best idea to show him the door no matter what numbers he is posting.
His 82 in the third round of the Masters was his highest in a major. The 78 on the Old Course two years ago in what likely will be his final time at St. Andrews.
He still draws the biggest crowd and generates the loudest buzz. And two numbers worth remembering are four and 15. He had four surgeries on his lower back, the last one to fuse his spine, and two years later he won his 15th major at the Masters.
