Tiger Woods tees off at 2.49pm in round one alongside US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Homa - Watch The 150th Open throughout the week live on Sky Sports' dedicated channel. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 6.30am live on Sky Sports The Open.
Wednesday 13 July 2022 17:16, UK
"He wants to beat us so bad, and I do too", uttered defending champion Collin Morikawa, smiling as he braced himself for a Tiger Woods challenge at The 150th Open Championship this week.
Rich Beem this week maintained Woods still possesses the greatest mind in golf, Paul McGinley hailed the potential of an untarnished swing compensating for physical deficiencies, Rory McIlroy warned of a course tailored to golf's best 'chess' player, and that Morikawa smile reminded of an obstacle that will always be welcome where possible.
Retirement questions have become the understandable custom for the 15-time major champion, who has featured just twice in official events since a career-threatening car crash last February.
On Tuesday he laughed off speculation he would call time on his career at the historic Home of Golf as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer did, admitting the body was 'okay' not 'great' while relishing a 'different vibe' to a course celebrating a landmark week and a course that served as a prime focus during his rehab process.
His fire to stick around is matched by a fire to take him on.
"I think any time I'm able to see him, any time any of us are able to see him, we have to appreciate it because we don't know how many times he's going to play here. He might play one. He might play 10. Who knows? Any time you're able to be around someone like that where you've idolised him for so long, it's amazing," said Morikawa.
"All this love that you guys give him, he wants to beat us so bad, and I do too. I tell him that. I'm sure JT [Justin Thomas] tells him that every day. He's such a competitor and that's what's awesome about him.
"Even though he's gone through everything he's gone through. I know he's fighting it. I talked to him a few months ago about everything he has to do just to walk every day, it's amazing. It just shows you how much grit and determination he wants to have to get back on top and to win another event. I fully understand why."
Upon addressing the media Woods transitioned from an admission of hope that he could simply walk again post-accident never mind play competitive golf, into a calculated assessment of how 'heavier air' challenged drift perception with a seven-iron.
The limited practice and barrage of setbacks aside, he still thinks like a two-time St Andrews champion arriving in chase of No 3.
"He reminded me many times that he planned on beating me here at this tournament for quite a while," said Justin Thomas.
"I cherish our friendship and our relationship, and I've been very lucky to learn the amount of stuff that I have from him. But just like myself and any of us out here or him and any of his buddies, we're just friends who happen to play golf, and we're very competitive once we put that tee in the ground Thursday, whenever our tee time is."
Where Roger Federer had chiselled his ATP Tour involvement in order to prolong his major career, Woods has similarly closed the door on a full-time PGA schedule such is the desire to retain weeks such as this.
"The biggest challenge is I'm not playing tournament golf to get tournament ready for the majors. I'm not hitting shots in tournaments to know what works and what doesn't work," he said.
"I've had to do that at home. Yes, I can do that. I can do that at home to a certain extent, but it certainly is a lot better when I'm able to play tournament golf to feel tournament hardened coming into these big events. But that's no longer my future. I'm not going to be able to do that again.
"So this is what my future is, a very limited schedule. I'm going to have to somehow figure out a way to practise at home efficiently and come to these events maybe just a little bit earlier and get more looks and try to get a better feel for it, and really trust what I'm doing because I hadn't proven it to myself in any other tournaments prior to this."
"Just the fact that I was able to play Augusta when I just started weight bearing six weeks prior to the event, that to me was quite an accomplishment. Then Tulsa was another accomplishment. So this whole year has been something that I'm very proud of that I'm able to have gotten to this point with my team to get here to where I've been able to play in these tournaments when it looked like I would never have this opportunity ever again."
The 46-year-old's special relationship with St Andrews dates back to July 2000 when he stormed to victory in 19 under par, eight shots clear of Thomas Bjorn and Ernie Els for tied-second, to become the youngest golfer to complete the Grand Slam.
He went bogey-free over the first 36 holes to establish a three-shot advantage at the halfway point and followed a first-day 67 with a stunning second round of 66 before shooting 67 again on the Saturday and a final round of 69 to close out the weekend.
Woods' winning mark was the lowest 72-hole score at the time in relation to par for any major championship, a record he held for 15 years, until Jason Day broke it in 2015 with his 20-under-par win at the PGA Championship.
While his dominance of the major tournaments continued over the next couple of years, he found it tougher to follow up success at The Open.
He tied for 25th when defending the title at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2001, while a year later at Muirfield - a calendar slam on the cards - he carded the worst round of his career to date, a 10-over 81 in dreadful weather conditions on the Saturday.
Improved top-10 finishes followed in 2003 and 2004, but it required a return to St Andrews in 2005 for Woods to win again on these shores as he edged out Colin Montgomerie by five shots.
Having set the tone with scores of 67 and 67 to sit 10-under at the midway point, Woods held off a late rally from the Scot to become just the fifth player to win two Open Championships at the famous venue.
He has since endured unsuccessful returns to St Andrews in 2010 and 2015, failing to make the cut in the latter, though neither has deterred his love for a course that's history has seemingly been amplified amid debate over the LIV Golf Series.
"For the most part of my rehab I was just I was hoping that I could walk again, you know, walk normal and have a normal life and maybe play a little hit-and-giggle golf with my son or my friends at home," he explained.
"But lo and behold, I've played championship golf this year. And once I realised that I could possibly play at a high level, my focus was to get back here at St Andrews to play in this championship being, as I said, it's the most historic one we've ever had.
"I just didn't want to miss this Open here at the home of golf. This has meant so much to me. This is where I completed the career grand slam. At the time I had the record in scoring in all four major championships. So it meant a lot to me."
Asked for his best Tiger story from the championship over the years, Jordan Spieth merely cited the first opportunity to share the stage with him at Royal Liverpool in 2014. To play with him is career history, to watch him at The Open is career history - St Andrews treble or not.
"You never forget the first time you play with him in a major championship if you're able to do so," said 2017 champion Spieth. "I remember playing that Saturday round. I think we both had it going for a little while.
"Other than that, I don't have great stories of being involved - obviously at Carnoustie, that was the only time I've ever been in a major where I looked at the first page of the leaderboard and saw his name and my name next to each other, which was a dream come true."
Woods will be in his 50s by the time The Open next returns to St Andrews, and conceded that he was unsure whether it would be his last outing at one of his favourite golfing locations.
A 47th-place finish at The Masters, a gruelling week at the PGA Championship and the heights of the sport's young stars would appear to dampen the chances of a challenge.
But this is St Andrews, and the Swilcan Bridge awaits.
Watch The 150th Open throughout the week live on Sky Sports' dedicated channel. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 6.30am live on Sky Sports The Open.
