Tiger Woods will return to the British Open at Royal Portrush next year despite posting his worst stroke rate in a major tournament through two rounds.
The American, who is still battling fitness issues after nearly losing his right leg in a car accident in 2021, added a 77 to his first-round performance of 79 at Troon and reached a total score of 156 after 36 holes, matching his performance at the 2015 US Open.
He nearly finished last at 14 over par, but he stressed that he still enjoyed the experience and that his failure did not affect his decision to continue.
“It wasn't very good. I stumbled on two when I should have gone the other way and fought it all day,” he said after missing the cut at the Open for the third year in a row.
“I never got the ball close enough to make birdies and made a lot of bogeys.
“I enjoyed it. I've always loved playing in major championships. I just wish I was more physically fit when I get to the majors.
“It tests you mentally, physically and emotionally and I wasn't as fit as I needed to be. I hoped I would somehow find it but I never did. That's why my results were quite high.
“I missed playing at Troon. It's been a long time since I remember playing in 1997. I have some good memories here, I just wish I had done a bit better.”
When asked about the 12 months in Portrush, where he missed the cut in 2019, Woods replied: “The Open next year. Oh yeah.”
This year, the 15-time major winner made his record 24th consecutive cut at the Masters in April, but at the weekend at Augusta National he shot 82 and 77 and was eliminated early from the US PGA Championship and the US Open.
Due to his ongoing rehabilitation, Woods has played only in the majors this year and plans to play again at the Hero World Challenge, which he hosts because its proceeds benefit his own foundation, and the PNC Championship, where he is playing with his 15-year-old son Charlie.
He will try to expand his schedule next year, but this season he only has these two less competitive events in December available to him.
“No, I won't play until then. I'll just keep getting better physically and working on it,” he said. “Hopefully I'll come back to our, what is it, our 'fifth major', the father-son tournament, I'm looking forward to it.”
“I would have liked to play more, but I wanted to make sure I was in the big championships this year.
“I've had a lot of time to improve, to get better physically, which has been the case all year. I've gotten better, even if my results haven't really shown it, but physically I've gotten better, which is great.
“I just have to keep going like this and then at some point start playing more competitively and get back into the flow of competition.”