TULSA, Okla. – Can Tiger Woods win this week?
“I feel like I can, definitely,” Woods said Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s start of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club. “I just have to go out there and do it. I have to do my work. Starts on Thursday and I’ll be ready.”
The 15-time major champion and four-time Wanamaker Trophy winner didn’t hesitate when he took the question. This despite playing once in 18 months; twice if you count the two times he teamed with son, Charlie, in the PNC Championship (Woods called them ½ tournaments). This despite playing 15 months after a horrific single-car accident north of Los Angeles nearly took his life and brought amputation of his right leg into question.
And this despite running out of gas and limping home in the Masters six weeks ago, where he tied for 47th.
“I feel like I’m doing better. I’m having more days (that) are better, more positive,” Woods said. “Able to practice a little bit longer. So I’m able to do activities and things that I was hoping to do, and I’m finally able to do them.”
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Woods’ private jet touched down in the Sooner State on Sunday and three hours later he was playing the front nine of Southern Hills. On Monday, he played the back nine with Rory McIlroy. On Tuesday, he had a long range session and putted.
“He’s stubborn, he’s determined,” said McIlroy, who isn’t surprised Woods is back. “This is what he lives for. He lives for these major championships, and if he believes he can get around 18 holes, he believes he can win.”
Woods is confident he will get around Southern Hills much better than Augusta National, which he called Mount Everest.
“That’s the steepest golf course you’re going to play and that was the first one you climbed,” Woods said. “It’s going to get flatter and better. I got more and more tired (in the Masters) and more fatigued. I didn’t have the endurance that I wanted. I mean, I shouldn’t expect it because I didn’t earn it. I didn’t go out there and I hadn’t done the work but we were able to put in a little bit more work and it’s going to get better as time goes on. As the months pass and it’s going to get better.”
Woods, who won the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills (his 13th of 15 and first as a father), has certainly gotten stronger since the Masters. He wasn’t lacking in the power department on Sunday and Monday. He was hitting it both ways more accurately. And he had no trouble handling the runoffs of the greens.
“I’ve had to alter my golf swing here and there and practice sessions and work on things, and I’ve had to do a lot of shadow swinging in front of mirrors because I’m just not able to handle impact, but I’ve gotten better and stronger since then,” Woods said. “And will continue to improve.”
Maybe enough to win this week.
