It could be another six or seven years again before the Old Course returns to the Open rota. “If it’s that long, I don’t know if I’ll be able to compete physically at that level until then. It’s also one of the reasons I wanted to play in this league. I don’t know what my career will be like. I know I’m never going to play a full schedule again. My body just won’t let me. So I don’t know how many Open Championships I have left at St Andrews.” It wasn’t that long ago that he wasn’t even sure if he had already played his last one. After the crash, Woods didn’t know if he would even be able to “play a little golf with my son.” Even he was surprised by how well his recovery went. The thought of playing here is what got him through it. “Once I realized I could play at a high level, I focused on getting back here to St Andrews to play in this league. I just didn’t want to miss this Open here at the home of golf.” The place matters to him. He keeps a photo in his office from the first practice round here, when he played as an amateur in 1995. It shows him posing on Swilcan Bridge. “That meant so much to me. This is where I completed my career grand slam. So it meant a lot.” It seems to feel the same about where every other golf nut does, the only difference is it’s on the other side of the strings. There is a playground on the way that talks about the Old Procession. He smiled when he talked about the challenge of playing into the winds, and the bad slopes of the greens, and then again when he talked about what a privilege it was to play practice rounds with Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus. Woods even seemed genuinely impressed to find himself sharing a putting green with Bob Charles, who won the Open in 1963. “I just saw him out there hitting 18. Just to be able to see it in person, live, oh my god, that was so special.” Tiger Woods, who last played The Open at St Andrews in 2015, admits it could be his last appearance on the historic course. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA In 2015 Woods sounded like a man racing against time. Now he seems at peace with his passing. He clearly thinks a lot about the history of the sport and his place in it. Coming here will do that to you. “The story of the game is definitely something I’ve taken into consideration. I think it’s a very important part of understanding the evolution of our game, where we’ve come from, especially for me, for a person who has had to fight sometimes to get into clubs or onto golf courses. So I understand it from a different historical point of view. But you have to appreciate everything about this game, how it developed and the people who paved the way to allow us to play in these events, who created the energy behind it.” There’s a bigger issue here, of course, about the groundbreaking LIV Tour and the men who have signed up to play on it. All this talk of history was for their benefit as well. He wanted to remind them what really matters. “It’s a possibility that some players will never, ever have the opportunity to play in a major championship, never have the opportunity to experience this here, or walk the fairways of Augusta National. That, for me, I just don’t understand.” He’ll get to walk the championship course here at least twice himself. Or four, if he makes it, since he clearly figures to be in contention on Sunday. “On links golf courses like this, you can go on into your 50s.” He mentioned Tom Watson’s second place at Turnberry in 2009. Watson was 59 at the time. “That’s how it can be done. It just takes a lot of knowledge and understanding of how to play this type of golf. And with the gullies being quick and consistent, it allows players who are bigger to run the ball out there and have a chance.” There have been some famous farewells here over the years, Woods, who played here when both Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus finished, has seen a few himself. The way Woods was talking, you wonder if there might be another one later this week and win or lose he’ll have another famous photo of him at Swilcan Bridge to go next to the one in his office.
