British Open 2022: No one plays chess better on a golf course than Tiger Woods, says Rory McIlroy-Sports News , Firstpost

St Andrews, Scotland: The Old Course at St Andrews, which celebrates the staging of the 150th edition of the oldest Major, The Open, is a venue that always evokes awe and an incredible amount of discussion.

The Old Course has around 112 bunkers but Tiger Woods most famously avoided every one during his amazing win at St Andrews in 2000, which also saw him complete Career Slam of all four Majors. Two of three Open wins came at the Old Course in 2000 and 2005.

So, it was no surprise when Rory McIlroy, whose bucket list includes an Open at St Andrews, said on Tuesday, “It’s going to be a game of chess this week and no one has played a better game of this kind of chess than Tiger Woods.” In short the Old Course, with the sea next to it and the wind blowing around, requires a plan for every shot on a layout that has it all — bunkers, the fescue, the wind and a hard and firm course.

Interestingly, Woods also famously negotiated the Royal Liverpool back in 2006 while using the driver just once in four days to win the Open. There have been countless other times in Majors and Tour events that Woods has planned and stuck to it all the way to 72nd and unerringly hoisted the silverware.

McIlroy, who missed the 2015 Open at St Andrews after injuring himself in a game of football before the Major, played with the 46-year-old Woods on Team Woods in the four-hole ‘Celebration of Champions’ on Monday evening. He was pleasantly surprised by his condition.

“For those four holes, he (Woods) was moving better than I’d seen him move in a while,” he said. “That was really good to see. Hitting the golf ball and swinging the club aren’t the issue. It’s the walking part of it that’s the struggle.

But he seemed to be moving well. Everything looked pretty good yesterday, so that’s encouraging.”

Woods has won two of his three Opens at St Andrews and the third came at Royal Liverpool, where McIlroy won his only Open in 2014 and then was unable to defend it the following year.

Woods, who will making his sixth Open (every Open held at Old Course since 1995) start at St Andrews, has struggled with his leg injuries sustained in a high-speed car crash at the start of 2021. He made the cut at the 2022 Masters but his movements were clearly painful. Then, he pulled out after the third round at the PGA Championships, when it was impossible to walk around.

Since the Masters in November, 2020, Woods has teed up only three times for a Tour event prior to this week and all have been Majors. Woods skipped the US Open to make sure he could start here this week, which may well be his last Open at St Andrews.

Woods waxed eloquent about the 150th Open, saying, “It feels more historic than it normally has. And it’s hard to believe that because we are coming back to the home of golf. It is history every time we get a chance to play here.

“There’s so much that’s going on this week that to be able to play yesterday with Lee Buck (Trevino) and to hear him chatting the entire time over every shot as he’s hitting the shot, and just to be able to have that type of experience. And tonight we’re going to have our Champion’s Dinner, because we only do it here.

“It’s hard to believe, it’s been 150 years we’ve played this tournament. And it’s incredible, the history behind it, the champions that have won here. This does feel like it’s the biggest Open Championship we’ve ever had.”

Even as he is enjoying every delightful moment here, Woods has also been focussing on a fourth Claret Jug. He said, “I came here Saturday, and I didn’t hit any balls. I just chipped and putted and walked. So really was no stress there. It was just try to get a feel, and JT (Justin Thomas) and I went out there after dinner. It’s one of the neat things about coming out here. I stay at the Old Course Hotel, and I’ve gone out and putted a lot at 9:00 at night. I just go out to one of the greens, and I just putt. It’s neat to to go out there with JT, he’s like my little brother. We just went out there and just had a great time.”

“Then Sunday I played 18. Yesterday I played nine. Today I played nine. So that was going to be it for me. I’ll take tomorrow off. I’ll practise, keep my feels. But I wanted to get a good sense of how the golf course is going to be playing but also conserve my energy, so that’s why I’m taking tomorrow off.”

Then there was the Woods, who was asked about the controversy involving Greg Norman and the LIV Series that has lured away numerous PGA Tour players and many youngsters, too.

Woods didn’t hold back. “I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.”

As for the youngsters, he added, “Some players have never got a chance to even experience it. They’ve gone right from the amateur ranks right into that organisation and never really got a chance to play out here and what it feels like to play a TOUR schedule or to play in some big events.

“Some of these players may not ever get a chance to play in major championships. That is a possibility, that some players will never, ever get a chance to play in a major championship, never get a chance to experience this right here, walk down the fairways at Augusta National.

“But what these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practise? What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt? You’re just getting paid a lot of money up front and playing a few events and playing 54 holes. They’re playing blaring music and have all these atmospheres that are different.”

He added, “… the 72-hole tests are part of it. We used to have 36-hole playoffs for major championships. That’s how it used to be — 18-hole US Open playoffs.”

Meanwhile, McIlroy, who has not won a Major since 2014, asked about his own chances, said, “It’s a very special week. To be included in a pretty special day yesterday, it was very cool. To play in something like (Celebration of Champions) alongside my childhood hero, Tiger, one of the legends of the game, Lee Trevino, and then Georgia as well.”

File image of Rory McIlroy. AP

Asked if this could be his Open to win, McIlroy said, “I hope so. I’ve only played one Open here before. I got off to a great start and got caught out in wind not too dissimilar to what’s out there today.

“Yeah, I’m playing well. I’m in good form. My confidence in my game is as high as it’s been in quite a while. I can’t go in here thinking that this might be my time. I just have to go out and play a really good tournament. I’ve got to string four good rounds together, and hopefully at the end of the week, that’s good enough to win. I just can’t get ahead of myself.”

Woods and McIlroy hold all the spotlight, but there is a bunch of players who could have their hands wrapped around that famous Jug. World No 1 Scottie Scheffler, winner of four events including the Masters; In-form Xander Schauffele, who has won the last three events he has played, including two PGA Tour events and a star-studded Pro-Am in Ireland; Justin Thomas, who Woods call ‘little brother’, Jordan Spieth, who is slowing form of the old.

It will be game time on Thursday. Bring on the 150th Open.

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