Tiger Woods is back at the British Open, a championship where the unthinkable is sometimes in play

17/07/2024 19:00

Assuming you're an American sports fan, some of July's rare offerings come from across the way, on either side of the English Channel. Early risers get two weeks of Wimbledon followed by the British Open, with the Tour de France threaded through all of it.

For this particular week, Thursday through Sunday, "The Open" (as the marketing folks prefer to call it) is on the tee at the Old Course at Royal Troon in Scotland, and thanks to Colin Montgomerie, we just might be in for a little thrill — cheap or otherwise.

What's Monty got to do with it? If you haven't already heard, we'll get there, and we'll also point out the Open's recent flirtations with the seemingly absurd, both 15 and 16 years ago.

And by the way, we're just a month shy of the 35th anniversary of what truly was a cheap thrill, given its abbreviated nature, but still, evidence of what golf offers to those who can get around and golf their ball a tad.

That's right, this is the next best chance — honestly, probably the best — for Tiger Woods to detour from his hobbled march toward the competitive sunset. And just in case he needed a little goose, Colin Montgomerie might have done the prodding. We say "might" because, well, the British media has a history of long-leashing honest reporting that predates the internet warriors by centuries.

In case you missed it, the Times of London quoted Monty thusly, regarding whether or not the time has come for Tiger to quit chasing the presumed impossible:

"Aren't we there? I'd have thought we were past there. There is a time for all sportsmen to say goodbye, but it's very difficult to tell Tiger it's time to go. Obviously, he still feels he can win. We are more realistic."

Reflexively or perhaps with a degree of righteousness (the British press, remember), Monty says his words were … all together now … taken out of context. But under what context could Monty’s following words be taken in any other way whatsoever:

"At Pinehurst (site of last month's U.S. Open) he did not seem to enjoy a single shot and you think, 'What the hell is he doing?' He's coming to Troon and he won't enjoy it there either."

Tiger reminds everyone of Monty’s ‘claim to fame’

Again, for those who may have missed Tiger's barely-subtle reply, he reminded everyone that Monty, for years, carried that bittersweet label of "greatest golfer to never win a major championship."

"Well, as a past champion, I'm exempt until I'm 60. Colin's not. He's not a past champion, so he's not exempt. So he doesn't get the opportunity to make that decision. I do."

In case you missed those five (by my count) jabs, here's one last shot to Monty's beefy torso.

"So when I get to his age, I get to still make that decision, where he doesn't."

Well, actually, Monty is now 61 and his exemption would've been up even with a Claret Jug in his trophy case, but you get the point.

So there you go, with whatever else is driving Tiger these days, here's a little motivation to stick it to someone whose great career was also defined by many sticks and stones — only some of them self-inflicted.

The British (sorry, old habit) Open is easily the best possibility for a guy in Tiger's current form: Capable game but an aged body and moody putter without enough battle-testing over the past few years.

Relatively flat course without long walks from green to the next tee, slower greens in a nod to the possibility of gales off the Firth of Clyde, and the inherent need for experience and patience.

The Open offers potential for miracles

Go back just 15 years, just south of Troon on the craggy Scotland coastline, to see what can happen on those funky and ancient museum pieces they call golf links. Tom Watson nearly won the Open at age 59 after leading it the whole way, basically.

How nearly? If his 8-iron approach to the rock-hard final green had taken just one neutral bounce, it would've remained on the green for an easy par and victory. Instead, it bounded over and Watson — seven weeks shy of 60 and nine months removed from hip replacement (hip replacement!) — bogeyed and lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink.

Given his new hip and timeless swing, Watson at 59 was probably better physically than Tiger at his current 48 — Tiger's sculpted upper body notwithstanding. But still, links golf is ancient and therefore congenial to the aged, assuming they're capable.

Frankly, the previous year's Open, in 2008, probably delivered the most unthinkable possibility.

Greg Norman was "just" 53, but had played only six PGA Tour events since turning 50 and was only at the Open due to his past-champ status and whatever bit of whimsy he was feeling.

What's this? He shoots a pair of 70s and is just one back after 36 holes, then a 72 in tough conditions to lead by two entering Sunday, and if you see the words Greg, Norman and Sunday in the same sentence, you know the routine.

Norman's Sunday 77 bounced him to a tie for third, but the Shark laughed off any idea of lumping in this one with all those Sunday misfortunes that defined his career — defined it for those who overlook all the accompanying brilliance, that is.

All of this to say, yes, there's a chance for a guy with an aged body and a guy without a lot of tournament-tested miles fresh in his rearview mirror.

So no, Tiger shouldn't quit. Perhaps he soldiers on due to contractual mandates — Tiger as golfer is certainly more valuable to corporate types than Tiger as former golfer. But like every golfer who's ever tasted any level of relative success, surely Tiger believes it's still there, waiting to roar back to life for one week.

Or maybe just a day.

An Arnold Palmer-style Thursday tease, perhaps?

Thirty-five years ago next month, at the 1989 PGA Championship, Arnold Palmer, just shy of 60 and still stubbornly pursuing the one major trophy he didn't own, turned Thursday on its ear with five straight birdies on the front and another on 15 that vaulted him into the lead.

Playing with Jack Nicklaus a few groups back, Tom Kite was on the 12th tee when he stared across the way at a big scoreboard and told Jack, "He's leading the golf tournament!"

Arnie had spent the '80s doing for the Senior Tour what he did for the regular Tour in a previous generation — giving it wings, basically — but was 16 years removed from his last Tour win. Reality caught up quickly and eventually shoved him into a Sunday tie for 63rd.

Maybe that'll be Tiger's destiny — a brief tease. If it comes on a Thursday, all the better, but given how he previously redefined golfing possibilities, don't be shocked if cobbles together a semblance of his old form on one of the game's oldest stages, where old golfers often shed the baggages of time.