Woods looks for 83rd win in LA; singles out "exceptional" McIlroy in LIV battle
Masters champions Patrick Reed and Tiger Woods have a laugh on the practice green during Practice Round 3 for the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, November 10, 2020.
TIGER WOODS can still talk the talk and he clearly believes he can still walk the walk too as he targeted the all-time PGA TOUR win record in this week’s Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club.
But Woods (47) is also acutely aware of the challenge posed by LIV Golf and he had special praise for Rory McIlroy’s “incredible” performance on and off the course in his role as the PGA TOUR’s unofficial ambassador in the battle with the Saudi-backed circuit.
“It's been an ebb and flow, it really has,” Woods said of golf’s civil war. “And it's been difficult, there's no lie. You've seen our ambassador, Rory, go through it. It's been tough on him, but he's been exceptional.
“To be able to go through all that, I've been with him on all those conference calls and side meetings, and for him to go out there and play and win, it's been incredible.”
Like McIlroy, Woods was subpoenaed by Patrick Reed’s lawyer on Christmas Eve and he admitted it may be impossible to ignore the elephant in the room when he gets to Augusta National and seeks LIV rebels like Reed, Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwartzel and Dustin Johnson at the Champions Dinner to honour Scottie Scheffler.
Asked how he would react to those players in the hallowed Augusta National clubhouse and whether it might be uncomfortable, he said: “That's a great question because I don't know because I haven't been around them. Some of the players out here have. For instance, Rory’s been in Dubai with some of those players.
“I don't know, I don't know what that reaction's going to be. I know that some of our friendships have certainly taken a different path, but we'll see when all that transpires. That is still a couple months away.
“We as a whole, we need to honour Scottie, Scottie's the winner, it's his dinner.”
Woods (47) has not played an official PGA TOUR event since he missed the cut in The Open at St Andrews last July.
But while he admitted he’s still struggling with his ankle after suffering devastating leg injuries in a car crash two years ago, he tees it up this week believing he can break out of a tie with Sam Snead and win his 83rd PGA TOUR title just 49 days before the Masters.
“I'm excited to go out there and compete and play with these guys,” said Woods, who could jump from 1,294th in the world to just outside the top 50 with a win. “I would not have put myself out here if I didn't think I could beat these guys, and win the event.
“That's my mentality. And if I wasn't ready to win at this level—I know I am very rusty—but I've come off rusty situations before and I've done well and I've had to utilise a lot of those tactics and practice and build up.”
Explaining how he’s gradually built up his walking fitness, he added: “It's built up fantastic to get to this point. Then after this event we'll analyse it and see what we need to do to get ready for Augusta.”
Woods returns to action just days after Lebron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 39-year-old NBA scoring record and when asked for an equivalent achievement in golf, he pointed to the record he shares with Snead.
“As far as the LeBron record, what he accomplished is absolutely incredible of just the durability, the consistency and the longevity,” said Woods, who said he still hoped to play the Majors “and maybe a couple more” events this year, depending on his fitness.
“As far as our equivalent to that, I don't know, maybe you look at maybe me and Sam at 82? It takes a career to get to those numbers. That's how I think probably best how you look at it.”
He admitted he became more aware of his sporting “mortality” after his back surgeries but when it comes to external expectations, he’s acutely aware that he hasn’t won since he matched Snead by winning the ZOZO Championship in 2019.
“I looked at the fact that I haven't won in three years, so there you go,” he said with a grin.
