Tiger Woods has sent out a stark warning to his Open rivals by claiming he is ready to end a majors drought that has now stretched to seven-years.
Long gone are the days when Woods, now 39, began as the overwhelming favourite to win whenever he teed it up in any of golf’s big four events.
Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson are among those burdened by the weight of expectation this week, but it would be foolish to write-off Woods at a venue where he won two of his three Open titles – in 2000 and 2005.
The other came at Royal Liverpool in 2006 and Woods won his third US Open title at Torrey Pines in 2008. The former world number one and 14-time major winner is beginning to look sharper after tinkering with his swing and undergoing back surgery last year.
Last month, Woods looked a shade of his former all-conquering self when he carded a career-worst 13-over-par 85 in the Memorial tournament in Ohio. A first bogey-free round since 2013, in the Greenbrier Classic a week ago, has given Woods cause for optimism that he can start moving back in the right direction, despite now being ranked 241 in the world.
While some critics believe Woods will never win another major, the American’s target is far more ambitious – reaching Jack Nicklaus’ total of 18 major wins.
At his pre-Open press conference yesterday, Woods said: “I’m still young. I’m not 40 yet. I know some of you guys think I’m buried and done but I’m still right here in front of you. I made a pretty big baseline shift at Memorial. That was actually one of the tougher things to do.
“Granted, that’s not exactly the easiest golf course in the world, but I did it and, consequently, I ended up playing well at Greenbrier and hit the ball the best I’ve hit it in probably two years.
“That was nice to be able to do coming into this week and I’ve hit the ball just as well then in my practice rounds.”
Woods believes he is finally reaching full fitness following the effects of back surgery that kept him out of last year’s Masters and the US Open.
He said: “I feel like my body is finally healed up. They say it takes you about four to six months to get back but I’ve heard a lot of guys on Tour who have had the surgery and other athletes say it takes over a year to get back.
“I think they were there probably closer to being right. It would have been one thing if I would have gone through the procedure and then had the same golf swing but I’ve changed the golf swing, too, on top of that, and so that was kind of a double dipper there where I had to fight both at the same time.”
His strong affection for St Andrews’ Old Course, a venue where he stormed to victory in 2000 and 2005 by eight and five-stroke winning margins, remains undiminished.
Woods added: “I’ve always wanted to play it backwards one time before I die.
“I want to play from 1 to 17, 2 to 16, so forth and so on. I think that would be just a blast because you see certain bunkers and think why would they put that there?
“Then if you play it backwards, you see it. It’s very apparent. That’s totally in play. That, one day, would be a lot of fun to be able to do.”