Did Tiger Woods miss an epic chance to say goodbye to competitive golf?
Did Tiger Woods miss an epic chance to say goodbye to competitive golf?
Colin Montgomerie seems to think so.
After making the cut in the first two majors of 2022, Woods took the U.S. Open off to make sure he was ready for St. Andrews and the 150th playing of the Open Championship.
Woods won two of his 15 majors at the Old Course and provided golf fans with one of the major subplots in the final major of the year.
Montgomerie certainly wasn’t alone in his thoughts that perhaps there’d be no better place for Woods to say farewell. Speaking on the Bunkered podcast, Montgomerie said:
“That was the time. Stand on that bridge, start waving, and everyone goes, ‘So, is that it?’ Yeah, it is. It would have been a glorious way to go. The stands were full, the world’s TV cameras—from all continents—were on him, he’s walking up there on his own, tears were in his eyes obviously You can’t beat that walk. I’ve done it myself. When the stands are full, you cannot beat that walk.”
Montgomerie also said he doesn’t see Woods winning any more tournaments.
“I can’t see that happening. I’d love it to happen because it’s great for the game. I would love him to win. But I just can’t see it happening.”
Woods did return to semi-competition at The Match, playing alongside Rory McIlroy. He’ll team up with his son Charlie at the 2022 PNC Championship.
“The goal is to play just the major championships and maybe one or two more. That’s it,” he said. “Physically, that’s all I can do. I told you that, guys, you know, the beginning of this year, too. I mean, I don’t have much left in this leg, so gear up for the biggest ones and hopefully, you know, lightning catches in a bottle and I’m up there in contention with a chance to win and hopefully I remember how to do that.”
5 items that Webb Simpson and his caddie bring to every tournament
Webb Simpson and Paul Tesori have one of the coolest caddie-player relationships on the PGA Tour. They both share a strong relationship with their Christian faith and get along really well on and off the course.
Tesori has been on the bag for Simpson since 2011 and loves his job. The job doesn’t only require reading greens and gathering yardages, it requires packing the duo’s favorite snacks, items and more.
Golfweek has rounded up some of the team’s favorite items that they bring every tournament week. It’s not easy being on the road all the time, but these five items make it a bit more enjoyable.
Smith pocketed a cool $2.5M and looked great doing so, rocking his Original Penguin apparel.
Though they don’t get as much fanfare as some other apparel brands on the PGA Tour, Original Penguin, owned by Perry Ellis, has been making fun and unique golf shirts for more than 60 years.
“We congratulate Cameron for winning the 150th Open in a stirring come- from-behind record setting fashion,” said Oscar Feldenkreis, President and CEO of Perry Ellis International. “We are proud to have Cameron, with 10 career worldwide victories and a major, as an Original Penguin brand ambassador.”
We’ve already taken a deep dive inside Smith’s Winner’s Bag but now we get to open up the champion’s closet and see how Cam Smith dressed for success at the 2022 British Open.
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“He’s got a big set of balls on him,” said Smith’s caddie, Sam Pinfold. “He’s a real battler and a bulldog.”
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – As Cameron Smith did the car wash of media duties after winning the Players Championship in March, former PGA Tour pro Aron Price, a fellow Aussie who has known Smith for years, looked on at his mate and delivered the best explanation yet of why Smith has turned into one of golf’s big-game hunters.
“You know how there are people who are outwardly confident, but are really insecure? Cam’s the opposite,” Price said. “He won’t say it but he’s convinced that head-to-head that he can beat anyone in the world.”
At the 2019 Presidents Cup, Smith hinted at the breakthrough that was to come with a convincing victory over Justin Thomas in his Sunday singles match. In Maui, at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, he shot a staggering 34-under par to edge then-World No. 1 Jon Rahm and now he erased a four-stroke overnight deficit and spoiled Rory McIlroy’s return to major glory by stringing together five straight birdies on the back nine to shoot a final-round 8-under 64 at the Old Course and win the 150th British Open.
“He’s got a big set of balls on him,” said Smith’s caddie, Sam Pinfold. “He’s a real battler and a bulldog. As funny as it may sound, I’d almost rather be four strokes behind the leader than four ahead. The way he plays he knows he’s got to make birdies and he puts the blinkers on and goes.”
That pretty much sums up what he did in March at the Players, when he also picked apart TPC Sawgrass, his home course, and earned what at the time was his signature win. Viktor Hovland, who finished fourth at the Open, summed up what makes Smith’s game so special.
“He doesn’t have that ‘wow’ factor when you look at him,” he said. “It’s just unbelievable how he’s able to get the ball in the hole. He’ll hit a bad shot and it just doesn’t seem to bother him, because he knows that he’s going to hit a great next shot. That’s what golf is all about.”
It’s hard to beat a great putter, or as the British Open champion Willie Park once said back in the day, “A man who can putt is a match for anyone.” Smith always has been blessed with short-game wizardry. His creativity around the greens was born during his childhood when he used to love to take a sand wedge and make a golf ball spin to a stop on the makeshift backyard green designed by his father. These days, there are few tour pros, if any, more highly regarded for their short-game artistry than Smith.
“It’s almost like his shots are a little butterfly, they land so soft, and he’s got a little remote control on the ball,” Golf Australia’s high-performance director Brad James told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Smith’s game was made for this ancient seaside link, and his creativity was borne out over the final few holes in a delicate up-and-down to save par from short left of the 17th green and a nifty putt to tap-in range for one final birdie to clinch his one-stroke victory and set a tournament scoring record of 20-under 268.
“I’m not afraid to hit different shots,” Smith said. “I feel like I can play any shot under any circumstance.”
That confidence, that self-belief, has been his secret sauce. He’s not afraid to play aggressively, and on Sunday that made all the difference.
“Sometimes it is our downfall,” Pinfold said, as it was at the Masters in April when his tee shot at the par-3 12th found a watery grave and ended his hopes of a Green Jacket. “But more often than not lately it’s coming through for us.”
Smith has added world-class iron player to his arsenal. He smartly took the bunkers at 16 known as the Principal’s Nose out of play by laying up with an iron off the tee and finding the green with a crisp approach from 192 yards. He continues to fight his driver, which can be erratic, but the Old Course, like Augusta National, isn’t as penal off the tee as the single-lane roads that serve as fairways at the U.S. Open and often the PGA Championship. It’s why the British and the Masters seemed to be the safe bet for him to claim a major. McIlroy didn’t lose the Claret Jug, rather Smith took it from him with an inspired back-nine charge. He had a look in his eyes that was reminiscent of Raymond Floyd in his prime, who possessed one of the great thousand-yard stares.
“Some people have it, don’t they?” fellow Aussie Adam Scott said. “That’s the easiest way to say it, and that’s taking for granted all the hard work he’s put into his game like everyone does but I think he’s got it and he wants it and he’s not afraid of it.”
Cameron Young is emerging as the latest American with a bright future.
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – It’s time to start taking Cameron Young seriously.
The 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie is turning into the next Scottie Scheffler: he’s done everything but win. Of course, that likely is a matter of when not if for Young who is emerging as the latest American with a bright future.
Young posted a final-round 7-under 65 at the Old Course, including an 18-foot eagle at the last, to shoot 19-under 269 and finish second to Cameron Smith at the 150th British Open. It’s not often a player shoots four rounds under par, including a 64 and 65 and doesn’t hoist a trophy Sunday, but that was the case for Young.
“It probably hurts a little worse to come up one shot short,” Young said. “If you lose by eight you don’t really care. But, yeah, I played well today. I would have signed up for 65 this morning. And to watch Cameron shoot what he did (64), it was pretty amazing.”
So far this season, Young has recorded four runner-up finishes and twice tied for third, including at the PGA Championship. He entered the week ranked No. 32 in the world and 13th in the FedEx Cup standings. There’s nothing flukey about what the former Wake Forest product has achieved, and if he wasn’t already on Davis Love III’s short list for the U.S. Presidents Cup, he is now.
“The more I put myself there, I think I said at the PGA one of these times I’ll shoot 5-under on the back and that will be enough. And today I did, and it wasn’t,” he said. “So I guess one of these times I’ll shoot 6 on the back on Sunday and that will be enough.”
Young made bogey at the first and ninth holes on Sunday, but sandwiched four birdies in between to turn in 34. He tacked on birdies at Nos. 10, 13 and 14 before his eagle deuce at 18.
“I did everything I could,” said Young who tied for the lead momentarily at the last hole until Smith sank his tap-in birdie to seal the deal. “The way Cameron Smith chips and putts, I didn’t really think he would make a 4.”
The question seemed inevitable and yet Cameron Smith acted miffed that he was asked.
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The question seemed inevitable and yet Cameron Smith acted miffed that he was asked during his winner’s press conference to address rumors that the newly crowned Champion Golfer of the Year is on the verge of signing a deal to join LIV Golf, the upstart golf league.
“I just won the British Open, and you’re asking about that?” Smith responded. “I think that’s pretty, not that good.”
Pressed to answer the question and either confirm or quash such talk that has been circulating in golf circles all week, Smith instead did neither.
“I don’t know, mate,” he said. “My team around me worries about all that stuff. I’m here to win golf tournaments.”
LIV Golf kept a low profile this week, but the Saudi-backed league is expected to ramp up its spending spree with more high-profile signings. Among those expected to join LIV in the coming week may include Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who earlier this year was named Europe’s Ryder Cup captain. Swedish newspaper Expressen was first to report the move, which likely would cost Stenson the Ryder Cup job and make England’s Luke Donald a leading candidate to assume the role.
Henrik Stenson is expected to join LIV Golf imminently and to be stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy
When asked Friday after missing the cut at the Open to share his upcoming schedule, Stenson would only say, “Undecided.”
Stenson isn’t the only European Ryder Cupper to have his name bandied about as possibly headed to LIV Golf. Several player agents have said England’s Tommy Fleetwood is ready to make the jump. Fleetwood also was non-committal on his future tournament schedule.
“To be honest, I planned the schedule which got up to about now, and then we’ll just reassess and go again,” he said. “I’m happy with the progress I’m making.”
Not sharing one’s upcoming schedule, of course, doesn’t mean one is headed to LIV, but neither player gave any assurances that they planned to continue on with the PGA Tour or DP World Tour.
The other name that received a lot of mileage as shifting his allegiance to LIV is former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama. The Mirror reported he will announce his decision after the FedEx St. Jude Championship next month.
Gaining the Japanese star would be a boon for LIV’s efforts to gain an international TV deal, especially in Japan, where Matsuyama is a top attraction. He likely would become the captain of LIV’s Japan team just as Smith would likely take over the reigns as captain of a team of Australian golfers should he make the leap.
American Jason Kokrak, who has represented Golf Saudi, is also expected to confirm he’s joining LIV and will compete in the next event, which is being held July 29-31 at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey.
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – On Tuesday, Rory McIlroy said winning the 150th British Open would be his Holy Grail. He’s 18 holes away from making history with his fifth major win and ending a nearly eight-year drought at the major championships.
But first, he will have to separate from Viktor Hovland, who is attempting to become the first Norwegian to win a major. Paired together in the third round, they shot matching rounds of 66 at the Old Course to share the 54-hole lead at 16-under 200.
“Yeah, that was pretty cool,” Hovland said of the back-and-forth battle for the lead between him and McIlroy. “Probably not going to forget that one too quickly. No, I played great, but it was also cool to trade some holes with Rory as well.”
McIlroy poured in five birdies, a lone bogey and a one-in-500 hole-out eagle at No. 10.
“It was skill to get it somewhere close, but it was luck that it went in the hole,” McIlroy said. “You need a little bit of luck every now and again, especially in these big tournaments. And that was a nice bonus.”
The 33-year-old McIlroy broke the birdie seal with a pair of circles on the card at Nos. 5 and 6 and tacked on another at the ninth for a splendid outward nine. Then he crushed a 334-yard tee shot at 10 that caught a greenside pot bunker. His hole-out eagle was the shot of the day, and even Hovland took a moment to acknowledge it.
“That’s just a filthy bunker shot. So you just kind of have to go, hey, that was a sick shot,” Hovland said. “When things like that happen, you just kind of have to give each other a fist bump and say good shot.”
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy plays his ball from close to the wall on the 17th hole during his third round on day 3 of The 150th British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on July 16, 2022. (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
McIlroy wasn’t as fortunate when his drive at 17 stopped in the left rough and his second shot came out hot and bounded over the green, through the sand, rolled over the road and bounced back off the wall. Due to his ball being in a divot, he hit a low punch for his third that found the putting surface, but it resulted in his lone bogey of the day and dropped him back into a tie for the lead with Hovland. McIlroy didn’t waste any time returning to 16 under for the tournament by making a birdie at the last to shoot his second 66 of the championship.
While McIlroy eyes adding to his major glory, Hovland is in contention for the first time at one of the big events and noted that The Open is the first major he grew up watching and that being at St. Andrews would be extra special.
“I don’t think there’s any other place that would top it,” he said. “To win a major that’s closest to home, that would be really cool.”
After the round, Hovland was asked if he had a moment during the round where he thought to himself, this is where he intended to be his entire life.
“I was thinking what the hell am I doing here?” Hovland said, breaking into laughter. “Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty crazy from where I grew up and so far away from playing the PGA Tour, European Tour, for that matter major championships. Just to be here is very special, but to have a chance to win one is – yeah, I have to pinch myself, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to hold back tomorrow.”
If the 24-year-old Hovland were to claim the Claret Jug, it would mark the first time that the four majors were all won by players under 30.
Hovland climbed the leaderboard by making four straight birdies on the front nine starting with a 38-footer at the third hole and following it up with a 42-footer at the fourth. He made a short birdie putt after McIlroy’s hole-out eagle at 10 and a two-putt birdie at 18 in posting a bogey-free 66 and setting up a rematch with McIlroy on Sunday in the final pairing.
Cameron Smith reacts after missing a putt on the 7th green during the third round of the 150th Open Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Their closest pursuers, who trail by four strokes, are third-round leader Cameron Smith (73), whose putter cooled off and made a round-ruining double bogey at 13 after a poor drive, and Cameron Young (71), who hung tough but made his own back-nine double bogey at 16.
“The golfing gods were not with me today,” Smith said.
But might they be with McIlroy this week? Golf Channel’s Paul McGinley suggested the stars finally may be aligned for McIlroy, who said he’s finished off enough golf tournaments in his time that he’ll know what to do tomorrow, to sip from golf’s Holy Grail.
“I see so many things coming together,” McGinley said. “I just feel that the golfing gods have got something good in store for Rory McIlroy.”
We are in store for a truly outstanding day of golf.
Cameron Smith entered the third round with the lead, but on a day that saw almost every player in the field shoot under par, he faltered, shooting 1 over and now sits four shots back.
Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland, who played together in the second-to-last pairing, both shot 66 and will enter the final round four shots clear of the field.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s what you need to know for the final round of the 2022 British Open. All times listed are ET.
1st hole
Tee time
Players
2:20 a.m.
Sam Bairstow
2:30 a.m.
Jamie Rutherford, Wyndham Clark
2:40 a.m.
Hideki Matsuyama, David Law
2:50 a.m.
Sam Burns, Sungjae Im
3:00 a.m.
Garrick Higgo, Adri Arnaus
3:10 a.m.
Patrick Reed, Laurie Canter
3:25 a.m.
Cameron Tringale, Joaquin Niemann
3:35 a.m.
Aaron Jarvis, Jordan L Smith
3:45 a.m.
Barclay Brown, Danny Willett
3:55 a.m.
Sebastian Munoz, Robert Dinwiddie
4:05 a.m.
Lars Van Meijel, Yuto Katsuragawa
4:15 a.m.
Kurt Kitayama, Jason Kokrak
4:30 a.m.
Justin Thomas, Marcus Armitage
4:40 a.m.
Paul Casey, Jason Scrivener
4:50 a.m.
Justin De Los Santos, Tony Finau
5 a.m.
Thomas Detry, Thriston Lawrence
5:10 a.m.
Sergio Garcia, Corey Conners
5:20 a.m.
Adrian Meronk, John Parry
5:40 a.m.
Robert MacIntyre, Talor Gooch
5:55 a.m.
Sadom Kaewkanjana, Abraham Ancer
6:00 a.m.
David Carey, Lee Westwood
6:10 a.m.
Harold Varner III, Joohyung Kim
6:20 a.m.
Brad Kennedy, Filippo Celli
6:30 a.m.
Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk
6:45 a.m.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Richard Mansell
6:55 a.m.
Sahith Theegala, Min Woo Lee
7:05 a.m.
Lucas Herbert, Xander Schauffele
7:15 a.m.
Jon Rahm, Victor Perez
7:25 a.m.
Nicolai Hojgaard, Will Zalatoris
7:35 a.m.
Ian Poulter, Anthony Quayle
7:55 a.m.
Dean Burmester, Aaron Wise
8:05 a.m.
Dylan Frittelli, Russell Henley
8:15 a.m.
Bryson DeChambeau, Francesco Molinari
8:25 a.m.
Trey Mullinax, Tyrrell Hatton
8:35 a.m.
Shane Lowry, Brian Harman
8:45 a.m.
Thomas Pieters, Kevin Kisner
9 a.m.
Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth
9:10 a.m.
Adam Scott, Matt Fitzpatrick
9:20 a.m.
Tommy Fleetwood, Dustin Johnson
9:30 a.m.
Scottie Scheffler, Si Woo Kim
9:40 a.m.
Cameron Smith, Cameron Young
9:50 a.m.
Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland
How to watch
Sunday, July 17th
TV
USA: 4-7 a.m. NBC: 7 a.m.-2 p.m.
STREAM
Peacock: 7 a.m.-2 p.m.
Streaming will include featured groups, featured holes and is also available on NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and theopen.com.
You’ve just won your first PGA Tour title, handled all the media obligations and now have to rush over the pond to get ready to make your debut in the Open Championship. But you’re in Kentucky with the Barbasol Championship hardware and your passport is home in Alabama, so — courtesy of the PGA Tour, which sets up a private jet — you fly south.
You repack, get three hours of sleep and then head for Scotland, the itinerary taking you through JFK and Dublin before touching down in Edinburgh. And that’s when you see the horrors at the hands of luggage handlers.
We’ll let Trey Mullinax take it from here.
“All my clubs were out of my (golf) bag when I got here,” Mullinax said. “A lot of clubs were bent, and so we had to adjust and stuff like that. I guess going through TSA, whatever, they took the irons out (of the golf bag) and put them not back in my golf bag. They were just lying in the travel case.
“A couple of irons were bent and stuff like that.”
But his travel nightmare has turned into a dream week at the 150th Open Championship played at the Home of Golf. After making the cut on the number, he and Kevin Kisner were the first two-ball out and Mullinax shot 6-under-par 66; Kisner shot 65. Mullinax will be able to sleep in a bit longer Sunday after moving up more than 50 spots on the leaderboard.
“A little bit of a blur,” Mullinax, 30, described his present state. “I left my house at 5 a.m. Monday morning, got here at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, and then teed off at like 1:30 for 18 holes. I was actually OK Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday I was really tired. I haven’t slowed down. I really haven’t had any time. I’m really looking forward to next week getting home to my family and hanging out with my kids and celebrating the win, seeing some friends and stuff like that.”
Trey Mullinax lifts up his two-year-old son Jude on the 18th green during the final round of the Barbasol Championship golf tournament. (Photo: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports)
Playing the Old Course has certainly woken him up.
“Getting to hit shots I’ve never hit before,” he said of the highlights. “My caddie has been very prepared for the shots that we’re going to have to hit and the bump and runs you have to hit around here.
“I feel very prepared, and I feel like my game’s good.”
And now his putter is back to normal, too. On Friday night, Mullinax discovered the lie of his putter was off by 2 degrees.
“I knew it looked funny. I was having to tell my caddie, man, I’m having to forward press this a lot. I was like, man, I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “The ball wasn’t rolling like it was in Kentucky. Surely I didn’t lose it in two days.
I found out today that it was 2 degrees off. I played a lot better today.
“Shooting 66 out here is never bad. I was just trying to keep up with Kiz the whole time. I mean, he was putting phenomenal. I started making some putts. It became kind of like who can make the most birdies? He made the most birdies. I sniffed him on the last hole. Might have caught a skin there with him.”
Tristemente, para Tiger Woods e incontables fans del golf en todos lados, el legendario golfista no va a jugar en fin de semana en el Open Championship 150. Durante los primeros dos días, tuvo problemas y terminó en 9 sobre para el torneo. Pero hubo …
Tristemente, para Tiger Woods e incontables fans del golf en todos lados, el legendario golfista no va a jugar en fin de semana en el Open Championship 150.
Durante los primeros dos días, tuvo problemas y terminó en 9 sobre para el torneo.
Pero hubo un momento que ni él ni todos los demás van a olvidar.
Después de su tiro en el No. 18, comenzó a caminar hacia el green y el público en St. Andrews le dio una increíble ovación … y Tiger estaba en lágrimas.
Eso hizo llorar a los fans del golf y todo esto fue increíble. Vean el momento y la reacción en Twitter:
Traducción.- “Puede que este haya sido mi útlimo British Open en St. Andrews y la ovación fue un sentimiento increíble,” dijo Tiger Woods después de su ronda.
Algunas reacciones
Tiger taking off the hat and waving as he crossed the bridge, yet not stopping, was perfect.
Pretty much saying, hey, realistically, this may be it. I'm gonna work my ass off to be back here in five years, but it just might be it.
Traducción.- Tiger quitándose la gorra y saludando mientras cruzaba el puente, pero sin detenerse, fue perfecto. Casi diciendo, oigan, siendo realistas, puede que esto sea todo. Voy a trabajar lo más que pueda para regresar en cinco años, pero puede que esto sea todo.
Tiger finishing on 18. Every balcony and rooftop packed. Faces in every window lining the Old Course. Fans everywhere. Amazing scene if this is his final time here.
Traducción.- Tiger terminando en el 18, todos los balcones y el techo llenos, caras en todas las ventanas que daban al Old COurse. Fans en todos lados, Increíble escena si esta es su última vez aquí.
