DUBAI // Apart from feeling a little tired, and maybe a tad old, Tiger Woods seemed to slip right back into his Dubai groove on Wednesday.
The 14-time major champion constitutes the major draw at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic this week, so by the time he rocked up for his pre-tournament press briefing at Emirates Golf Club, the onsite media room had been reconfigured into standing-room only. To be fair, it had been that way long before Woods’s arrival.
Once there, Woods, event winner in 2006 and 2008 but back for the first time in three years, was greeted by the obligatory explosion of photographers’ flashbulbs, and journalists eager to discover how a former world No 1 would cope with the latest step on his comeback from injury and inactivity.
Woods was “feeling pretty good”, he said, after an early start for the 7.30am slot in the Pro-Am, although he did concede he could do with some more shuteye. Apparently mums don’t always know best.
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■ Extras: Tiger Woods on playing golf with President Trump and texting Rafa Nadal
■ In pictures: Tiger Woods returns to Dubai to tee off in front of Burj Al Arab
■ In pictures: Tiger Woods and more in pro-am prior to Omega Dubai Desert Classic
■ Driving range: Tiger Woods's attempts to remain inconspicuous fails as the buzz begins
■ Danny Willett: Defending Dubai champion purring after being paired with Tiger Woods
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“I’m tired,” said the Florida native. “My mom called me about two in the morning and woke me up, asked how I was doing. I said, ‘Mom, you realise there’s a nine-hour time difference?’ So I’ll get a good rest this afternoon and be ready for tomorrow.”
The extended downtime is well warranted. Woods, 41, touched down in Dubai early Tuesday, then landed at Emirates Golf Club around 11am before he was whisked away for some promotional work. In between, he hit balls on the driving range, where, typically, he was centre of attention. And not only among "Team Tiger", the media or the gathered galleries: Marcus Armitage, the emerging English professional and stationed right next to Woods, halted his practice to get a look at a bona-fide golfing great up close. He even got the American to sign his shirt. Something new then, Tiger?
“It just means you’ve been around a long time,” Woods said. “That’s all. This is my 21st year on tour, so been out here a while – actually just a little over half my life.
“So you put it in terms like that, it’s easy to see why players who are on the younger side, that some were born after I won the [1997] Masters, are out here. So it’s just a changing of the guard. I look at a lot of the names on our pairing sheets, and I probably don’t know a third of them because, 1). I’ve been out, and 2). the guys come and go so quickly now that it’s hard to keep track.”
Yet that doesn’t necessarily mean hard to keep up with. Woods may be ranked 666th in the world, without a victory since August 2013, and he missed the cut last week on his return to the PGA Tour after 17 months out. However, a CV that contains 79 PGA Tour wins, not to mention second-most majors of any other golfer in history, allows for a large dose of self-confidence.
Ask Woods if his recent struggles have prompted a change in attitude, or a shift in focus away from racking up those “Ws”, and he promptly reverts to type. Patently, Tiger retains plenty of bite.
“No, because if I’m teeing it up, that’s the goal: to win,” he said. “Over the course of my career, I’ve been less successful at winning tournaments than not winning tournaments.
“But the goal is to win, and that doesn’t change. Whether I’m injured, coming off an injury or playing well or playing poorly, if I’m in the event, it’s to win the event.”
He was some way short of that last week, though. Finally back competing on the PGA Tour following a third back surgery, Woods shot 76-72 at the Farmers Insurance Open to miss the cut by four strokes.
Playing partners Jason Day and Dustin Johnson – the world No 1 and No 3 respectively – did likewise, although Woods’s woe felt more significant. He had previously won eight times at Torrey Pines. So any lessons harvested from the Farmers?
“Well, eight-inch rough is not good,” Woods said, before assuring everyone in attendance that the Dubai weather should aid his back this week. “The good news is at least it will be warmer.”
Obviously, the onset of age and persistent injury has precipitated a climate of change in Woods’s outlook. A good friend of Roger Federer, he gleaned personal positives from the Swiss’ Australian Open victory on Sunday – a triumph against Father Time as much as it was Rafael Nadal. Federer had adapted his game to again become a major champion. Clearly, Woods can empathise.
“Am I going to do that? Yeah,” he said. “I’m not going to be hitting balls 340 yards like some of these guys out there. I watched Dustin when it was cold, wet and damp and he carried it 335. Jason and I just looked at each other going, ‘We don’t have that’.
“So you do it differently. If you look at the list of guys who’ve shot below 60, you realise Jim Furyk’s on there twice. He averages 270 off the tee, shoots two rounds under 60. So it can be done different ways.”
There can be different ways to assess it, too.
“I’ve had lean years where I didn’t win,” Woods said. “There have been 10 years where I won five or more tournaments, but there have also been years where I didn’t win a thing, and I struggled. I was changing my game and didn’t play well.
“And Jason Day said something pretty funny. We were walking into the scoring tent on Friday, and he says, ‘You know, it doesn’t really matter when you win your four tournaments, whether it’s the beginning of the year or the end.
“I know we all missed the cuts, but you win four and, at the end of the year, people think you’ve had a hell of a year.
“But I just like to put myself in contention as many times as I possibly can to get those Ws. This is a good week to start off doing that.”
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