The Open: After practising with Tiger Woods ahead of The 150th Open, Justin Thomas believes it would be “no surprise” to see him compete for a historic 16th major title.
Woods and Thomas chipped and put their way around the Old Course on Saturday evening, walking all 18 holes and finishing well after 10.30 p.m. local time, before returning the next morning to play a full practise round.
The pair teed off shortly after 8.30 a.m. on Sunday morning in front of large galleries and in sunny conditions, with the round marking Woods’ first full 18-hole practise round during a major week this year.
Woods appeared to be in physical pain throughout as he battled the injuries sustained in a car accident last February, walking with a pronounced limp and appearing to struggle to bend to pick up his tee, but Thomas sees positives in the former world No. 1’s game.
“I’ve been picking his brains a little bit. I understand that he’s going to be a little withholding some information. But I’m trying to needle it out of him and get as much out of him as I can because he’s done pretty well around this place.”
Woods’ appearance at St Andrew’s will be just his third in a full-field event since the career-threatening leg and ankle injuries suffered in last year’s crash, with the 46-year-old wanting to give St Andrews “at least one more run at a high level.”
Woods won his first Open title by eight shots at St Andrews in 2000, on his way to the ‘Tiger Slam,’ and returned five years later to finish five strokes ahead of Colin Montgomerie.
What can we anticipate from Woods?
The three-time Open champion struggled on his comeback at The Masters over the weekend and withdrew ahead of his final round at the PGA Championship due to injury, with Woods withdrawing from last month’s US Open because he didn’t feel “physically ready” to compete.
“He [Woods] isn’t looking great, he’s in quite a lot of discomfort,” said Sky Sports News’ Jamie Weir, who followed Tiger during his practice round. “He walked up the hill onto the sixth tee box and he was limping as he did that, leaning on his putter. He hit a driver off the fourth tee and just bending down to pick his tee out of the ground took a considerable amount of effort for him.
“He’s clearly still in quite a lot of pain. He obviously withdrew from the US Open in order to make sure that his body was in the best possible condition for The Open Championship, but he didn’t look great when we saw him a couple of months ago at the PGA Championship either.”
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