Tiger Woods missed US Open to prepare for 150th Open Championship at St Andrews

Tiger Woods says he missed last month’s US Open to “give it at least one more run at a high level” on the Old Course at next week’s 150th Open Championship.

Tiger Woods

He returns to the home of golf 17 months after suffering career-threatening injuries in a car crash.

“This is a pretty historic Open. I’m lucky enough to have won there, and want to play there again,” he said.

“I don’t know when they are going to go back while I’m still able to play at a high level.”

Speaking to BBC Sport, Woods conceded that he did not know how much longer he would be able to play competitive golf.

“I don’t know. I really don’t,” he said. “If you asked me last year whether I would play golf again, all of my surgeons would have said no. But here I am playing two major championships this year.

“I will always be able to play golf. Whether it’s this leg, or someone else’s leg, or a false leg, or different body pieces that have been fused, I’ll always be able to play.

“Now if you say play at a championship level, well, that window is definitely not as long as I would like it to be.”

Woods finished 47th at this year’s Masters in April, clearly struggling with his injuries in the final two rounds on the hilly terrain at Augusta National as he carded two six-over par 78s to finish on 13 over.

But after finishing his final round, he immediately turned his focus to playing this year’s Open over the Old Course, saying: “I’ve won two Opens there and it’s near and dear to my heart. It’s my favourite course in the world. I will be there for that one but anything in between I don’t know.”

Speaking on Tuesday at a Pro-Am event at Ireland’s Adare Manor – the venue for the 2027 Ryder Cup – Woods said: “The plan was to play the US Open, but physically I was not able to do that.

“There’s no way physically I could have done that. I had some issues with my leg and it would have put [The Open] in jeopardy, and so there’s no reason to do that.”

He admitted he has “some very difficult days when moving off the couch is a hell of a task, and that’s just the way it is”.

Woods’ last official event was the US PGA Championship at Southern Hills in May. He withdrew from that tournament after carding a nine-over-par 79 in the third round. – bbc.com