Exhausted Tiger Woods desperate to board private jet back to the States after Open disaster made worse with back injury
EXHAUSTED Tiger Woods said “I just want to go home” after his Open disaster at Royal Portrush. The Masters champion – who had to sit on the ground to tie his laces – suffered pain in and needed treatment on his fragile back in cold and rainy Northern Ireland. He fired a one under 70 […]
EXHAUSTED Tiger Woods said “I just want to go home” after his Open disaster at Royal Portrush.
The Masters champion – who had to sit on the ground to tie his laces – suffered pain in and needed treatment on his fragile back in cold and rainy Northern Ireland.
He fired a one under 70 in the second round but all the damage was done in an opening 78 in which he winced several times when hitting shots.
And Woods, 43, who will miss the cut on six over, looked shattered and desperate to board his private jet back home when he finished.
Woods, who will not play in next week’s WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational, said: “I just want to go home. I just want some time off just to get away from it.
“I had a long trip to Thailand and then trying to get ready for this event, to play this event, it’s been a lot of travel, a lot of time in the air, a lot of moving around and different hotels and everything.
“I’m going to take a couple of weeks off and get ready for the play-offs.
“We’ve got the playoffs coming up, and anything can happen. Last year I almost stole the whole FedExCup at the very end. If it wasn’t for Justin Rose’s little break there at the bunker, it could have been interesting.
“So get ready for those events. And after that then have a break.”
Woods has had four operations on his back – the last in April 2017 being a make-or-break spinal fusion surgery which saved his career.
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He won this year’s Masters in one of sport’s greatest ever comebacks but has struggled since, missing the cut in the USPGA in his first start after those Augusta heroics and doing likewise in Portrush.
But he says his current predicament is way better than a few years ago when he was arrested for driving under the influence when found asleep at the wheel of his car after taking a cocktail of painkillers.
Woods said: “Those were some of the lowest times of my life. This is not. This is just me not playing well and not scoring well, and adds up to high scores.”