Tiger Woods roasts Colin Montgomerie on retirement suggestion

Fifteen-time major winner Tiger Woods put a swift end to the latest round of retirement talk triggered off this time by Colin Montgomerie ahead of The Open Championship at Royal Troon which gets under way on Thursday.

Speaking to the Times of London last week on whether he thought Tiger should call it a day, the eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner said, “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.”

Woods fired back at his Tuesday press conference in Troon, reminding Montgomerie that he had the option to play on while the Scot did not. “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. So when I get to his age, I get to still make that decision, where he doesn’t.”

Monty, as he is popularly known in fact first suggested Tiger retire in 2022 when The Open was played at St Andrews, saying it was a “golden opportunity” to make the call after the American missed the cut. On Thursday, Woods will make his 23rd start at The Open Championship.

The 48-year-old has played just nine rounds this season on the PGA Tour. He withdrew from the Genesis Open in February, finished last at the Masters in Augusta and missed the cut at both the PGA Championship as well as the US Open. He, however, is convinced the body is responding well enough for him to play on but rued the lack of competitive golf.

“I’ll play as long as I can play and I feel like I can still win the event,” Tiger, who was The Open champion in 2000, 2005 and 2006, said. “I’ve always loved playing here. I've only played here twice. I played in '97 and in '04. I loved them both. 

“I got a chance to play with Tom Weiskopf in his last practice round. That was neat for him to take me back to some of his holes and how he played them, and I obviously gave him some stick, and he's giving me stick, like we always do. We had a wonderful time playing just a wonderful practice round.”

The last time Tiger played The Open at Royal Troon was in 2004 when he finished in a share of ninth place with Todd Hamilton beating Ernie Els in a playoff for the Claret Jug. The one time previous to that was in 1997 and missed the 2016 edition with a back injury.

“We’ve been busting it pretty hard in the gym, which has been good,” Tiger added on Tuesday when asked if he thought a 16th major title was possible. “Body’s been feeling better to be able to do such things, and it translates on being able to hit the ball better.

“Can’t quite stay out there during a practice session as long as I’d like, but I’m able to do some things that I haven’t done all year, which is nice. I’m monkeying around with the bounce on my 60. I got a couple 60s I’m kind of experimenting right now, one with a little bit less bounce for the chipping areas.

“I bent my 3-iron yesterday one degree stronger just to be able to hit it off the deck and get that thing down and flighted and running. And I added lead tape to my putter just because the greens are so slow.
“It’s one of those courses where you’re going to get it on one of the nines. It’s either going out it’s going to be downwind, or coming home it’s going to be into the wind or vice versa. Half of the holes are going to be playing really difficult, and the other ones are definitely gettable.”

Incidentally, Montgomerie, who never won a major, lost to Tiger by five strokes at the 2005 Open Championship.