Fifteen-times Major winning Tiger Woods returns top competition this week for a first time since the PGA Tour’s return to golf insisting he will miss the energy of not having any spectators in attendance at the Memorial.
Woods has not competed in a regular Tour event since last February when he ended near the field in hosting the Genesis Invitational at the Riveira club near Santa Monica.
He did compete in a ‘made for TV’ exhibition match as his home Medallist Club in Florida while this week will also be Woods’ second event of 2020 after sharing ninth place earlier in February at the Farmers Insurance Open.
And it’s an understatement is stating much has happened since the reigning Masters Champion walked onto the first tee with a Tour scorecard in his back pocket.
🎙️ @TigerWoods talks about making his first start in five months @MemorialGolf. https://t.co/GTsEUv2RCL
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 14, 2020
And one of many questions asked of Woods ahead of this week’s Memorial, and an event he’s won on five occasions, was what will be his reaction to having no fans on course, and for a golfer who has competed all his life surrounded by supporters.
“It’s going to be a lot more difficult. I just think that the energy — even it felt weird as I was watching on my computer at home, like 14, when Collin (Morikawa) last week hit the ball on the green there, and granted, they’ve never had the tees up there during the Memorial event, but if they were and had that same situation during a Memorial event, to have someone drive the ball on the green that close to the hole, I mean, that whole hillside would have been going nuts,” said Woods.
“Then to see J.T. (Justin Thomas) make that putt, he’s screaming, but no one else is screaming. And then when Collin makes it, normally — he didn’t have that much of a reaction, but the whole hillside on 18 would have been just erupted.
“I’ve been there when they’re throwing drinks towards the greens and people screaming, high fiving, people running around, running through bunkers. That’s all gone. That’s our new reality that we’re facing. Those guys, J.T. and Collin, both how they played down the stretch and separating themselves and the shots they hit, they got into the world of playing against each other and got into that world.
Tiger Woods on the Memorial range and returning to the PGA Tour for a first occasion in five months
“But it’s so different not having the energy of the crowd, and for me watching at home as a spectator and one that has played this golf course and have heard the energy that the fans bring to these holes and these situations, not to have that is very different, very stark really.”
So for a player who has been used to a large spectator following, and with virtually every shot Woods has played on TV vidoe tape, the question has to be asked how does the current World No. 14 adapt without that ‘energy’.
“I think for me in particular, I’m going to have to just put my head down and play,” he said.
“But it’s going to be different, there’s no doubt about it. For most of my career, pretty much almost every competitive playing round that I’ve been involved in, I’ve had people around me, spectators yelling, a lot of movement inside the gallery with camera crews and media.
“Watching the players play over the last few weeks, that hasn’t been the case, and that’s very different, and for the players that are a little bit older and that have played out here for a long time and have experienced it, it is very different.
“For some of the younger guys it’s probably not particularly different. They’re not too far removed from college or they’ve only been out here for a year or two, but for some of the older guys it’s very eye-opening really.”
