TROON, SCOTLAND | Tony Finau was standing over his last few practice putts on the green adjacent to the Royal Troon clubhouse on Friday. He still had 10 minutes before his 2:26 p.m. second-round starting time in the 152nd Open Championship when, all of a sudden, he stopped leaning down and stood stock still. The spectators in the stands around the 18th green were not only cheering Tiger Woods but giving him a standing ovation, and never mind that he had just added a 77 to his opening 79 and was going to miss the cut with room to spare. Tom Kim of South Korea was similarly getting ready for the off when he decided to follow Finau’s example. First, though, he had a hurried question as to what was going on. “It’s for Tiger,” Finau said, “and it’s an appreciation of what he’s done. These people never know whether this is going to be the last time they see him over here.” These people need not have worried. Mind you, had they heard Woods’ end-of-round chat with the writers, they might well have drawn breath for a moment.
After he had already said he was not about to stop playing and that his fitness levels were improving all the time, one of the British writers asked if we would be seeing him next year at Portrush. “At where?” asked Woods, as if he had never heard of the place. His blank look prompted a louder mention of the next Open venue. “PORTRUSH!” said the journalist. At that, Woods apologised for letting his attention wander and burst into laughter. “Yes, he said. “I’ll be back, all right.” His manager, Mark Steinberg, confirmed as much. “If that’s what he’s just said, that’s what’s going to happen. And if you’re asking why he so loves coming back over here, it’s because he finds the crowds so kind, so respectful. He often talks about it.”
Over the two rounds, one person after another had explained to GGP why they continued to love Woods above the rest. The next companion I plucked from the crowd stood out as someone who would have seen more of Woods than anyone else in his years of watching Opens. There was a point in his second round when I fell into a chat with a man from Paisley who insisted that Woods had done more than anyone to get kids into golf. “Lots of youngsters came into golf because of him, and I think you’ll find that there won’t be so many in the years ahead,” the man said. “It needs another Tiger to come on the scene, and that’s not necessarily going to happen. He’s still got all the skills the others don’t have, but just as age catches up with the rest of us, it’s catching up with him.” Woods had said much the same at the start of the week while mentioning that the Open represented his best chance of making use of his skillset. “Over here, you can run the golf ball 100 yards if you get the right wind and the right trajectory…,” he said. “You can play on the ground. You can burn it on the ground with a 1-iron, 2-iron, 3-wood whatever – even drivers – and just flight it and get a bunch of run. I think that’s one of the reasons why you see older champions up there on the board. They’re not forced to have to carry the ball 320 yards and more.”
The next companion I plucked from the crowd stood out as someone who would have seen more of Woods than anyone else in his years of watching Opens. “I’ve got the best room in the house,” said this 6-foot-8-inch member of the East Ayrshire Council. “I can stand at the back of a 10-deep crowd and see everything I need to see. There’s a carpet of heads in front of me, but that’s about it.”
As to what he expected of the Woods of today, it was not miracles. “I’d like him to make the cut, but that’s not important. He’s the icon so many of us have grown up with.” Of course, there are those who put Woods in the same category as Scottish tennis’ Andy Murray – someone who should retire and is doing himself no favours by carrying on. What they don’t seem to understand is that there is so much to admire in those who, even if they are past their best, are still trying their guts out over every shot.
Ronan Flood, Pádraig Harrington’s brother-in-law and long-time caddie, is someone with an excellent understanding about what goes on in the heart of a great champion. Though he appreciates that Harrington’s three major titles are not the same as Woods’ 15, he talked on Thursday night of “that certain buzz” which is part and parcel of being a major winner. “It’s something that stays with them,” Flood said. “They still have the feeling that they can win, and that’s why they’re here. It may not happen, but if you had a Pádraig [now 52] or a Tiger [48] still in the mix with nine holes to play, I can guarantee that they would find what it takes to beat the rest.”
