The Open is often regarded as the ultimate test of golf and for someone like Tiger Woods, it’s one of the most special dates on the golf calendar.
Woods is a three-time winner of The Open having triumphed in 2000, 2005 and 2006.
Like many young golfers, the allure of playing and winning at St Andrews was a dream for Woods and one he got to live not once, but twice in ’00 and ’05.
The Open is often one of the toughest weeks on the entire schedule thanks to the tricky links course, unpredictable weather and the pressure that goes with the event.
However, speaking ahead of the 2013 edition at Muirfield, Woods explained just why he loves the tournament so much.
Why Tiger Woods loves The Open Championship
Having grown up in America, it would be easy to assume that Tiger Woods would prefer Augusta National or another of the courses in the states where he’s dominated.
However, for the 15-time major winner, the true test of golf comes at The Open and in 2013, he explained just what makes it so special for him.
“Muirfield is one of the hardest courses in Scotland. The front nine is basically played clockwise and the back nine is played counter-clockwise and on the inside of the front nine. You have to shape the golf ball both ways, and you never know what’s going to come off that water as far as wind. It can change directions. If the wind switches, you can be aggressive on certain holes and others you have to be conservative.
“That’s the neat thing about a British Open: You just never know what type of conditions you’re going to get each day,” Woods said.
“I love the creativity of being able to hit shots and utilize the ground as an asset. That’s something that we don’t have in the states; we don’t really play that game here. I loved playing links golf right away. My first time over here was in 1995 playing Carnoustie and St. Andrews. That was a pretty good education. It takes a little bit of understanding about how to control the ball on the ground and how much it’s going to release that particular week. Some weeks, it releases a lot more than others.”
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Tiger Woods’ comments on the golf fans at The Open
As we know, the patrons in golf can make or break a tournament and we’ve seen recently at the Ryder Cup how it can impact proceedings.
However, when it comes to The Open, Woods believes the fans are a different breed and effectively help make the tournament what it is.
“The majority of the fans at the Open Championship understand how difficult some of the shots are. If you hit a 3-iron into a green and wind up 50 feet away, you get pretty good applause because they know how difficult a shot that is,” Woods continued.
“As far as strategy, it’s all dependent on setup. I don’t know how fast the fairways are going to be – if drivers are going to be running out 60 or 70 yards. And will it be hard to control the ball on the ground, or will it be soft and the ball is not running out as much?
“Although I have been playing every day, I also have to get back into a competitive feel. The practice rounds are going to be important for how that particular golf course is playing. Whether we’re going to need to hit the ball higher or lower, what the conditions are and what the weather is going to be. It’s a little different than Florida. I’ll just bring an assortment of clothing for any weather.”
After what happened at Bethpage, we can expect the fans at next year’s Open to show how it’s really done and prove what Woods said here correct.
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