DUBLIN, Ohio – Tiger Woods made his first public appearance Tuesday in nearly two months when he played a practice round for the Memorial Tournament alongside his friend Justin Thomas.
The two played the last nine at Muirfield Village Golf Club, where Woods will team up with Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka in the first two rounds.
The last time we saw Woods playing in public, he paired up with Peyton Manning and defeated Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in an exhibition game on May 24 at Medalist, Woods’ home field in South Florida.
Woods last played a PGA Tour event in February, when he last finished at the Genesis Invitational in Riviera, a tournament that benefits his foundation. He chose to skip the first five events of the PGA Tour COVID-19 restart before this week’s Memorial, a tournament he won five times.
“I thought about playing, trying to figure out if I should play or not,” Woods revealed after his practice round on Tuesday. “But I felt it was better to stay home and be safe. I am used to playing with many people around me or with many people who have a direct line with me, and that not only endangers me but my friends and family. (I have just been) at home practicing and distancing myself socially and being away from many people.
“That’s something I looked at and said, ‘Well, I’m not really very comfortable with that, with that idea. Let’s see how it unfolds first and let’s see how the Tour has worked, how they started, and I feel like I’m comfortable enough to come back here and play again. I’m excited to do it.
“It feels great to be back,” Woods continued. “I haven’t played in a tournament in a long time, it’s been since February, so it’s been a long time for me. Going out and playing ‘JT’ was a lot of fun. It is certainly a different world, a different environment in which we are. Playing practice rounds like this and seeing how the Tour has evolved and started and not seeing fans, it’s just a very different world here. ”
Woods said that, while watching tournaments on the restart of the PGA Tour, he saw golf differently than he normally would.
“It was more like watching golf to see how it is now, to see what our near future is, our reality and our foreseeable future,” he said. “Some of the boys when they played the first two weeks, it was very different. Having no one screaming, no one screaming, no energy, social distancing, no handshakes. “
Questions he had for his teammates who had been playing in tournaments included: “Where are you going to exercise? Are you going to be able to exercise in a gym? No, you can’t go to the gyms. What are you going to do here? Face masks? “
“We are trying to understand all the guidelines and the guys are trying to figure it out on the fly and also compete,” he said. “So it was very difficult trying to get a routine for most of the players.”
Woods’ last victory came at the Zozo Championship last October. It was his 82nd career victory, tying Sam Snead’s all-time PGA Tour record. It also came after a long time away from the nearly two-month golf tournament.
When asked Tuesday, if that showed him he can win after a long layoff, Woods said: “Well, I would like to say that I am going to win the event. That is my intention. If that is played on Sunday … I hope that’s the case. There’s no reason I can’t do it again this week. I just have to go out there and do my job and make that happen. “
Woods said he feels better physically than before since his last tournament, the Genesis.
“Physically, I was very stiff in Los Angeles,” he said. “I wasn’t moving that well. (My) back was not completely loose. It was cold. I wasn’t hitting the ball too far, I wasn’t playing very well and consequently I finished in last place.
“Fast forward five months later, I was able to train a lot. I feel much better than then. I have been able to train and focus on getting back to the speed and the speed of the tournament, so how I was moving in ‘The Match’ and have been able to progress since then. ”
Woods has not been available since the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police, and was asked Tuesday if he had made a “positive difference” in terms of the racial injustice issues that have plagued the country after the protest and conscience.
“I think the change is fantastic,” said Woods. “As long as we make changes without hurting the innocent, and unfortunately that has happened. Hopefully it won’t happen in the future. But a movement and change is fantastic. This is how society develops. This is how we grow. This is how we move forward. This is how we have justice.
“Unfortunately, we have lost innocent lives along the way and we hope to lose no more in the future as we move to a much better place socially.”
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