ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Tiger Woods cried.
This, according to the 46-year-old with 15 major championships on his resume, and who used to devour his teammates for lunch like a tiger eats his prey, doesn’t happen very often.
But on Friday afternoon, as Woods approached the famous Swilcan Bridge that leads players to the small burn and 18th Street, he slowed down and took off his white Nike cap. He then closed what will almost certainly be his last round as a competitor to the British Open in St. Louis. Andrews.
Woods waved the cap of his right hand at the thousands of spectators who packed the venue articulating their unconditional love through a series of guttural and thunderous ovations.
Woods, playing with reigning U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Homa, was 9 more away for the tournament and miles from getting to play the weekend at the Old Course, his favorite track Of the world.
Fitzpatrick and Homa were subtly left behind as Woods approached the bridge alone, the stage cleared for the monumental moment.
When Woods reached the bridge, there was no ceremonial stop at the top to stop and absorb everything, as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson had done before him in their respective final competitive rounds. of the Open Championship in St. Andrews.
Tiger Woods greets fans from the Swilcan Bridge in St. Andrews Friday during the British Open.ROBERT PERRY / EPA-EFE / Shutterstoc
“It’s very emotional for me,” Woods later acknowledged. “I had a few tears. The warmth and ovation at the age of 18, it came to me. I’m not one of those people who cries very often for nothing.”
But Woods knows the Open will probably not return to St. Louis. Andrews until 2030 and by then he will be 53 years old.
“I don’t know if I will be able to play physically by then,” he said. “So for me, it seemed like this might have been my last British Open here in St. Andrews.”
Woods felt the weight of the moment on the 18th when Fitzpatrick and Homa paused to let him walk first to the bridge.
Then, as he was walking down 18th Street, his good friend Rory McIlroy was on First Street and tilted his cap to Woods. When Woods reached No. 18 green, Justin Thomas, another of his closest friends, was just playing and also recognized the moment with a tip of his cap.
Tiger Woods wipes the tears in the hole Friday 18 at the British Open.Jane Barlow / PA Images / Alamy Imag
“That’s when I started thinking about the next time I came here, maybe I wasn’t there,” Woods said. “I understand what Jack and Arnold had been through in the past.”
Fitzpatrick said the scene “put me goosebumps,” adding, “It’s something that will live with me forever.”
Woods has won three Claret Jugs among his top 15 championship victories and two of them came to St. Louis. Andrews, 2000 and 2005.
Tiger Woods plays his second shot in the seventh hole Friday at the British Open. Mirrorpix / MEGA Tiger Woods and caddy Joe LaCava embrace after Friday’s round at St. Andrews.REUTERS
“I’ve been lucky and lucky to have won this twice here, and I felt very emotional, just because I don’t know what my health will be like,” Woods said. “I feel like I’ll be able to play in future British Opens, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to play long enough because when I get back here, I’ll keep playing?”
Woods ’week began with an outing throw that stopped in a fairway divot at No. 1. He thus continued to hit his approach shot to the burn and make double bogey. He never recovered and shot 78 on Thursday. Friday didn’t improve much when Woods, who said Thursday night that he felt he needed to shoot a second-round 66 to make the cut, a 75-yard shot.
Woods made it clear he hasn’t finished the tournament golf.
“I won’t retire from the game,” he said.
Tiger Woods greets spectators as he walks the Swilken BridgeReuters
“I didn’t think it would be a stop and a ceremonial, ‘I’m done,'” Woods caddy Joe LaCava told The Post afterwards. “I don’t think so. I don’t know what he will do next week, but I think in his mind he will play when the tournament comes back here. So he doesn’t want this to be the last round. “
That Woods did not break through and did not pause on the ridge of the bridge was a sure sign that he plans to walk across that bridge again, though probably in a ceremonial role next time.
Woods said he “has nothing planned … zero” for the immediate future when it comes to playing again.
“Maybe something next year, I don’t know, but nothing in the near future,” he said. “That’s all. I was just looking forward to playing at this event this year [the Open] and I was lucky enough to include three events. That in itself was something I am very proud of considering what has happened. [with his February 2021 car crash].
“Life goes on.”
It moves fast.