The Open: Tiger Woods has admitted that missing the US Open was due to the risk of jeopardising his chance to compete in the 150th Open at St Andrews.
Woods withdrew from the PGA Championship after three rounds in May and chose to sit out last month’s US Open in Brookline due to injury, revealing that his body “needed more time to get stronger” and continue his recovery.
The 46-year-old confirmed in April that he would play in The 150th Open at St Andrew’s, but Woods chose to play in the JP McManus Pro-Am this week instead of the final men’s major of the year.
“The plan was to play the U.S. Open but physically I was not able to do that,” Woods told reporters at the JP McManus Pro-Am. “There’s no way physically I could have done that.
“I’m lucky enough to be part of the past champions that have won there and want to play there again. I don’t know when they are ever going to go back while I’m still able to play at a high level, and I want to be able to give it at least one more run at a high level.”
Since suffering career-threatening injuries in a car accident in Los Angeles last February, the 15-time major champion has only played in three televised tournaments, competing alongside his son in December’s PNC Championship before appearing in the first two men’s majors of 2022.
“It was worth it,” Tiger Woods said of his long road to recovery. “It’s been difficult. I’ve had some very difficult days and some days when getting off the couch is a huge challenge, and that’s just the way it is.
“As I said, I’m very thankful for all the support I’ve gotten, my treatment staff, and all of my surgeons who are repairing this leg and keeping it. So I have my own two legs, which I’m not going to take it for granted anymore, some people do.
“If you asked my surgeons last year if I would play golf again, they all said no. But this year, I’m competing in two major championships.
“I will always be able to play golf, whether it’s this leg or someone else’s leg or false leg or different body pieces that have been replaced or 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.”
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