Tiger Woods has experienced plenty in life, but even he has surely not seen anything quite like what unfolded on St. Andrews’ final hole on Friday afternoon.
With the sun shining and the galleries packed, he smacked his tee shot down the middle of the fairway, stepped across the Swilcan Bridge and was hit by an emotional freight train the likes of which the Old Course has rarely witnessed.
After rounds of 78-75 for Woods, the 36-hole cut was a distant dream, and so this was Woods’ St. Andrews competitive farewell – the end of a love affair that started 27 years ago and delivered two Claret Jugs.
Those here were hardly going to let the moment slide, and tears filled the eyes of the three-time “champion golfer of the year” as he was cheered, clapped and whooped for nearly five full minutes from the grandstand, the road and even the R&A clubhouse.
"I'm not retiring from the game.”
Tiger Woods
“But I don't know if I will be physically able to play back here again when it comes back around.
The home of golf is so often a fitting final act for a golfing great and, though the 46-year-old Woods intends to play on, this was a final goodbye from the game’s birthplace to perhaps its greatest son.
“I'm not retiring from the game,” he said.
“But I don't know if I will be physically able to play back here again when it comes back around. I'll be able to play future Opens, yes, but next time here, I doubt if I'll be competitive at this level.”
The evidence of this week suggests he is probably right.
For 36 holes, Woods struggled for any kind of rhythm, looking every inch like a player with his right leg held together by metal and who had played only three times since a near-fatal car crash 18 months ago.
He already has circled the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool on his schedule, but, with the next venues for the Open announced only through 2025, it is unknown when the Claret Jug will next be contested on the Old Course.
Never say never with Woods, but neither he nor the spectators were willing to bet on a St. Andrews encore as thousands of fans lined the 18th fairway and packed into the grandstand hours before he even teed off, waiting to get a glimpse of the I-was-there moment.
For more on Tiger Woods’ emotional walk down 18, click HERE.
The R&A