Tiger Woods is preparing for his 23rd appearance in The Open, which will get underway on Thursday.
Tiger Woods is back in Scotland as he prepares to feature in his 23rd Open Championship at Royal Troon. And one of his security guards was seen exploding at a photographer on Sunday as the 48-year-old played a full round to get a feel for the course.
Woods is one of the greatest golfers to ever grace the sport and has won a remarkable 15 major trophies throughout his illustrious career.
He tasted glory at The Open in 2000, 2005 and 2006 but missed the cut when he last played in the tournament two years ago.
At just after 7am on Sunday morning, Woods arrived in Scotland in a private jet having flown over the Atlantic overnight.
And his practice round was witnessed by a reporter from golf outlet Bunkered, who saw the blockbuster star playing alone alongside new caddie Lance Bennett.
Woods was followed by three security guards during his round, with two flanking him and one shadowing him closely behind.
On the seventh tee, one of the security trio told off marshalls for allowing people inside the course ropes when they shouldn’t have been there. And on the 16th green, the same man loudly reprimanded a photographer for being too close to the golfer as he exclaimed: “With that lens, you can see him from way over there.”
Woods won his last major trophy in 2019 as he won the US Masters by one stroke ahead of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele.
But he is a shadow of his former self on the course these days and missed the cuts at the PGA Championship and US Open earlier this year. And he has been told by golf icon Colin Montgomerie to bring the curtain down on his playing career.
“I hope people remember Tiger as Tiger was, the passion and the charismatic aura around him,” the 61-year-old explained to The Times at the end of last week. “There is none of that now. At Pinehurst, he did not seem to enjoy a single shot and you think ‘What the hell is he doing?’ He’s coming to Troon and he won’t enjoy it there either.
“Aren’t we there? I’d have thought we were past there. There is a time for all sportsmen to say goodbye but it’s very difficult to tell Tiger it’s time to go. Obviously, he still feels he can win. We are more realistic.
“These guys [watching golf for the first time] only know Tiger Woods missing the cut and he’s better than that, the best we’ve ever seen.”
