Tiger Woods has admitted his uncertainty over whether this weekend’s Open will be his last.
As a lifelong fan of St Andrews, some have highlighted a potential fitting end to the 46-year-old’s prestigious career if he calls it a day on the Old Course.
Still plagued by the leg injury he sustained in a serious car crash in February last year, Woods discussed his future in golf on Tuesday.
“Who knows?” he told reporters. “I don't know, if it is that long, whether I will be able to physically compete at this level by then. It's also one of the reasons why I wanted to play in this championship. I don't know what my career is going to be like.
“As I told you, I'm not going to play a full schedule ever again. My body just won't allow me to do that. I don't know how many Open Championships I have left here at St Andrews, but I wanted this one.
“It started here for me in ‘95, and if it ends here in ‘22, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. If I get the chance to play one more, it would be great, but there's no guarantee.”
Woods is nonetheless confident that his leg is “stronger” since he struggled at The Masters, before deciding against competing in the US Open.
He added: “It's still not easy. Granted the inclines are not steep in any way. The declines are not steep. But it's the unevenness that is still difficult on me. I have a lot of hardware in my leg. So it is what it is. It's going to be difficult.
“Yes, the walk is certainly a lot easier than those two championships that I played in before this year. I'm able to walk a lot more holes. Also, then again, I've gotten a lot stronger since then. I spend more time now that I've gotten a chance to work in the weight room and get stronger and get the endurance better in my leg.
“Playing Augusta, I didn't know. My leg was not in any condition to play 72 holes. It just ran out of gas. But it's different now. It's gotten a lot stronger, a lot better. Hopefully it will continue to get that way. But again, as I said, having a lot of hardware in there makes it a little bit of a challenge.”
