Tiger Woods has shut down speculation that he plans to retire from golf at The 150th Open, although admitted it may be the last time he features competitively at St Andrews.
The 15-time major champion has been plagued by injuries in recent years and has competed just twice in official events since last February’s career-threatening car crash in California.
Woods has previously indicated a return to full-time PGA Tour golf would no longer be possible, while the former world No 1 sitting out of last month’s US Open to get himself physically ready to tee it up in the final men’s major of the year.
The 46-year-old is a two-time winner at the Old Course and will be in his 50s the next time The Open will return to St Andrews, leading to rumours Woods would join fellow greats Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in calling time on their Open careers at the historic venue.
“Who? Me, retire? No, no, no, no. I’m not retiring,” Woods told Sky Sports. “But not playing a full schedule, that’s just my reality. I don’t like it, but I just have to accept it.
“As far as retiring, no. But this may be my last chance I’ll be playing at St Andrews with a chance to compete at the highest level.
“If it comes around in five, six, seven or eight years’ time, whatever the time frame is, who knows if I’ll be playing the game of golf at this level? I appreciate every single moment, especially coming back here.”
Woods’ only appearances this year saw him labour to a 47th place finish at The Masters after back-to-back rounds of 78 over the weekend at Augusta National, then withdraw ahead of his final round at the PGA Championship having battled to make the cut at Southern Hills.
The world No 994 competed in the JP McManus Pro-Am last week and played a practice round with Rory McIlroy in Ireland, before following 18 holes on Saturday evening with Justin Thomas at St Andrews with another round the following day with the reigning PGA champion.
Woods played nine holes on Monday morning ahead of competing alongside McIlroy, Lee Trevino and Georgia Hall in the R&A’s Celebration of Champions later that day, before playing another nine holes on Tuesday, with the three-time Champion Golfer confident of overcoming his physical struggles to contend this week in Scotland. – Sky Sports
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