Tiger Woods believes Rory McIlroy will have to deal with the “raw emotion” of his heartbreaking US Open loss for some time.
McIlroy briefly held a two-shot lead with five holes to play at Pinehurst, but bogeyed three of the last four, missing from two feet and six inches on the 16th and three feet and nine inches on the last to finish a shot behind Bryson DeChambeau.
The four-time Major winner said earlier this week that Michael Jordan and Rafael Nadal had been among the sports stars to send him messages of support, with Woods doing likewise.
“I just sent him a nice text,” Woods said in his press conference ahead of the 152nd Open Championship.
“I waited a week before I sent it. I wanted to let it calm down. I know he was being besieged by a lot of different things going on, and just let it cool down for a week.”
Asked what he had said in the message, Woods added: “Just basically, as you know, I’m your friend. I know this is a difficult moment.
“We’ve all been there as champions. We all lose. Unfortunately, it just happened and the raw emotion of it, it’s still there and it’s going to be there for, I’m sure, some time.
“The faster he’s able to get back on a horse and get back into contention, like he did last week [in the Scottish Open], the better it is for him.”
McIlroy admitted he felt uncomfortable over his par putt on the 16th, a feeling even a 15-time Major winner like Woods could empathise with.
“Yes, absolutely. Nervous, shaky, uncomfortable, yeah, all of it,” Woods said. “That’s part of it. That’s why you love it. That’s why we practice, to build up ourselves in that one uncomfortable situation and bury it.
“I’ve missed plenty of putts. I’ve missed plenty of shots. Just like [Michael] Jordan ... you see all the game-winning shots, but also he’s missed a ton of game-winning shots too.
“The thing is you still take the game-winning shot and I still want the last putt.”
Asked what had been the hardest loss of his career, Woods picked out the 2009 US PGA Championship won by YE Yang, which was the first time Woods had failed to win a Major when leading after 54 holes.
“That took a little bit of time to get over that because I had made some pretty stupid mistakes in the middle part of the round,” Woods said.
“I made a huge rally at the end, but too late. I made too many mistakes in the middle. You can’t afford to make the mistakes that I made and expect to win tournaments. I know better than that.”
Woods has dismissed talk of imminent retirement and aimed a barbed comment at Colin Montgomerie for suggesting he should quit the game.
The 48-year-old won the last of his 15 Majors at the 2019 Masters with his most recent professional victory coming later that year at the Zozo Championship.
But since the 2021 car crash which left Woods fearing his right leg would have to be amputated, the 82-time PGA Tour event winner has played only nine times, making just three cuts.
He missed the cut by two strokes at the US Open and that prompted European Ryder Cup great Montgomerie, 61, to say at the weekend: “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.”
When asked about those comments, Woods replied: “Well, as a past champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60. Colin’s not.
“He’s not a past champion, so he’s not exempt, so he doesn’t get the opportunity to make that decision. I do.
“So when I get to his age, I get to still make that decision, where he doesn’t.
“I’ll play as long as I can play and I feel like I can still win the event.”
Asked if that belief had wavered during his struggles over the last two years Woods replied: “No.”
Following Woods’s press conference Montgomerie posted a response on social media, writing on X: “If Golf Writers want my thoughts on Tiger please ask me direct, rather than taking a quote from an interview out of context. Wishing Tiger an enjoyable and successful week.”
Woods has not come close to reproducing anything near to his best golf in recent years and with driving distances getting longer tournaments favour the biggest hitters in the game.
However, the Open is the one Major at which Woods feels, with the right conditions on links courses where accuracy has a premium over distance, he can still realistically be competitive.
“The older you get the less you can carry the golf ball but over here, you can run the golf ball 100 yards if you get the right wind and the right trajectory,” said Woods, who won the Open in 2000, 2005 and 2006.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why you see older champions up there on the board because they’re not forced to have to carry the ball 320 yards any more.
“I’ve been training a lot better. We’ve been busting it pretty hard in the gym, which has been good.
“[The] body’s been feeling better to be able to do such things, and it translates on being able to hit the ball better.”
