US Open: Tiger Woods will return to Masters-winning form

Tiger Woods will return to his Masters-winning form at the US Open, says former Ryder cup captain Paul McGinley.

Since ending an 11-year wait to claim a 15th major at the Masters in April, Woods missed the cut at the US PGA Championship and finished ninth at the Memorial Tournament earlier this month.

The US Open starts at Pebble Beach on Thursday – the scene of Woods’ first victory in the tournament in 2000.

McGinley says the course will “suit” the American’s style of play.

Woods won the US Open in 2000, 2002 and 2008 and ended an 11-year wait for another major at the 2019 Masters

“I think we’re going to see the Tiger Woods from the Masters for two reasons,” McGinley said. “He showed a bit of form at The Memorial and I think he’s gearing up for a really strong performance at Pebble.

“I think he’s got over the hangover of winning a major championship again. He didn’t play a lot of golf between that and the PGA. He was probably under-prepared, certainly he was competitively.

“The big determining factor for me is that the golf course is really going to suit the style of play that he has at the moment.”

McGinley, who led Europe to Ryder Cup victory in 2014, added: “He is a ball-control player who is able to shape it at will, both right to left and left to right. He is able to get his trajectories high and low, which is going to be important in the wind.

“There’s not many better iron players in the game who are are good as Tiger right now.”

Woods will play with American Jordan Spieth and England’s Justin Rose for the first two rounds at the famed venue in California.

American Brooks Koepka has been grouped with Italian Francesco Molinari and Norwegian amateur Viktor Hovland for the first two rounds of the US Open at Pebble Beach as he begins his bid for a third successive win in the event.

The world number one won his second US PGA Championship in a row last month. – bbc.com