Tiger Woods rises to the 2nd place in the world ranking after T3 finish at the Open Championship
Tiger Woods was in good form coming into the Open, he had won three tournaments more than any other player on tour. At the Open Championship, Tiger did not come out with all guns blazing but he just did enough to signal his intent.
Tiger played it safe in the first three rounds, yet intelligently and skillfully. On Sunday, winds picked up speed and things went absurd.
Almost everybody was spraying their shots around and a little lapse in concentration washed away all the hopes of Tiger bagging another major.
A triple bogey and a par 4-hole was nothing less than a disaster for Tiger. It was the same hole that he birdied during all three rounds previously. However, just one loose shot that landed in the bunker brought an end to everything.
After that, Tiger tried his best to recover but it was too much to ask for in such terrible conditions. There were positives to take home for the American from the Royal Lytham Golf Course.
A T3 finish at the Open now means that Tiger Woods is now the world’s second best golfer, just behind the Englishman, Luke Donald.
Tiger is currently chasing the record of Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus for the most number of wins and major titles, respectively. This result at the Open will go in a long way to help Tiger accomplish those two feats.
This outcome is also a big morale booster for Tiger. Apart from that one triple bogey, everything was near to perfect for the former world number one.
Tiger has not won a major since 2008 but he is very optimistic about his future.
"It is part of golf. We all go through these phases -- some people it lasts entire careers, others are a little bit shorter," he said.
"Even the greatest players to ever play have all gone through little stretches like this. When your playing careers last 40 and 50 years, you are going to have stretches like this".
Tiger Woods went into the Open with a specific game plan, which went well for him until the last round, especially at the hole where he triple bogeyed.
"I was right there. The game plan was to shoot under par going out so I was in position to do what I wanted to do and then turn home and shoot maybe 1 or 2 under on the back nine," he explained.
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