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CARNOUSTIE. – Nobody in global golf can make old men move like young animals quite like Tiger Woods.
When Woods is on his way to the interview room, media folk grow extra legs. They exit their seat like a greyhound from the traps and whizz past you in a blur. Lesson one about covering a major championship: don’t get in the way of a man on his way to a Tiger press conference. Dawdle and you’re dead. Roadkill.
This will be Woods’ 20th Open and his 13th Open in Scotland. Twenty-three years he’s been coming here, since playing, coincidentally, Carnoustie in the Scottish Open as an amateur in 1995 before kicking on to St Andrews for a major won famously by John Daly.
Woods and Scotland has been a love story. Two of his three Claret Jugs were won at St Andrews. He was once asked to pick his three favourite holes in Scottish golf.
“The Road Hole – and anything else at St Andrews,” he replied.
To borrow a current – and somewhat weary – phrase, there’s an element this week of Woods coming home to what he knows and loves most about golf.
He told a tale about those first weeks in Scotland. “I’d never played links golf,” he said. “This was my first time. I spent close to two hours on the range just hitting balls before I even went and played because I thought it was just the best, seeing the ball bounce, being creative and using my mind.
“I grew up in Southern California where nothing rolls. I remember going down to (hole) number two, I was probably 120 yards out and bringing out my putter. I’d never done that before. That was one of the cooler moments. It stuck with me. That was my introduction to links golf – Carnoustie and St Andrews. Doesn’t get any better than that.” – BBC Sport.
Online Reporter