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Tiger Woods will favor quality over quantity in a bid to prolong his career after admitting he was emotionally and physically drained by his Masters triumph.<\/p>\nTiger Woods will favor quality over quantity in a bid to prolong his career after admitting he was emotionally and physically drained by his Masters triumph.<\/p>\n
Woods told Jack Nicklaus \u201cI\u2019m done\u201d at the Champions Dinner ahead of the 2017 Masters, but flew to London later that night to consult a specialist, subsequently underwent career-saving spinal fusion surgery and won his 15th major title at Augusta National in April.<\/p>\n
The 43-year-old has played just 10 tournament rounds since, taking four weeks off before missing the cut in the US PGA Championship then finishing ninth in the Memorial Tournament and 21st in the US Open.<\/p>\n
Woods went straight from Pebble Beach to Thailand on a family holiday and concedes his game is not as sharp as he would like ahead of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, but believes he has no option but to play a limited schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting myself into position to win the Masters, it took a lot out of me,\u201d said Woods, who has had four knee operations and four back surgeries during his illustrious career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat golf course puts so much stress on the system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen if you look at that leaderboard after Francesco (Molinari) made the mistake at 12, it seemed like seven, eight guys had a chance to win the golf tournament with only six holes to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was reading the leaderboard all the time trying to figure out what the number is going to be, who is on what hole. And it took quite a bit out of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing my kids there, they got a chance to experience the Open Championship last year after their dad took the lead and then made a few mistakes. And this time they got to see me win a major championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharlie was too young to remember when I won in Akron (in 2013) and Sam was one when I won at Torrey (2008 US Open). My mom was there and she had been in \u201997 for my first win.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was a very emotional week and one that I keep reliving. It\u2019s hard to believe that I pulled it off and I end up winning the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woods has not been helped by a change to the calendar in 2019 which saw the Players Championship move to March and the US PGA switch from August to May, meaning there is a major championship each month from April to July.<\/p>\n
And he has learnt his lesson from 2018 when he played 19 individual events and arrived in Paris for the Ryder Cup exhausted after his victory in the Tour Championship just hours earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year I played a little bit too much, the body was pretty beat up,\u201d Woods added. \u201cAfter I won in Atlanta you saw what I did at the Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was worn out and unfortunately I didn\u2019t contribute to the team at all in points and we end up losing.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of it was trying to qualify for certain events, trying to get me where my world ranking would get me in some of the bigger events.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this year I made a conscious effort to cut back on my schedule. I want to play here as long as I possibly can and you have to understand if I play a lot, I won\u2019t be out here that long.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Woods won the last of his three Open titles in 2006 but held the lead with eight holes to play at Carnoustie last year. He takes inspiration from a 53-year-old Greg Norman finishing third at Royal Birkdale in 2008 and Tom Watson losing in a play-off at Turnberry 12 months later at the age of 59.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you don\u2019t have the speed to carry the ball 320 yards anymore, you can still run the ball quite a bit out there,\u201d Woods added. \u201cYou just have to navigate the bunkers and navigate around the golf course.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an art to playing links golf. It\u2019s not \u2018OK, I have 152 yards, bring out the automatic nine iron and hit it 152\u2019. Here, 152 could be a little bump-and-run pitching wedge. It could be a chip six iron. It could be a lot of different things.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy game\u2019s not quite as sharp as I\u2019d like to have it right now. My touch around the greens is right where I need to have it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still need to get the shape of the golf ball a little bit better than I am right now, especially with the weather coming in and the winds are going to be changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday it was a good range session. I need another one tomorrow and hopefully that will be enough to be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n