Nassau, Bahamas ….
Tiger Wood has singled out his ‘Shot of the Year’ as the dramatic mid-round bunker shot he played to help take the lead in the Open Championship at Carnoustie.
Woods was staring a nasty bunker shot down the left side of the 10th hole and with his ball having come to rest on the upslope of the bunker.
He then sent a 150-yard wedge soaring into the air and only after missing the lip of the bunker by millimetres.
Woods remarably found the front of the green to walk off with a par but find himself in the lead in golf’s oldest Major.
It was the first time Woods had led a Major for some time but sadly it was short-lived as Woods then hit a spectator with his approach shot at 11 only to walk off with a double-bogey ‘6’.
And then after an errant drive down the left side of 12, Woods posted a bogey on route to share of sixth place and three shots adrift of Ryder Cup nemeses, Francesco Molinari.
“For how I viewed it at the time, this is in the moment, the shot I hit 8 Tee-Scripts.com down 10 at the Open Championship out of that bunker, I thought that this is the tournament, I win The Open Championship or lose The Open Championship on this shot,” said Woods ahead of this week’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
“If it clips the bunker, I lose. If it comes out, I’m going to go ahead and win this thing. You saw the speed I put into it and the shot I hit.
“To be able to pull that off knowing that I hadn’t done this in a very long time. I knew this was the moment. This was going to turn and this is how I was going to win this tournament because this is what I’ve done before in the past. There are moments when in a tournament where you know this is the shot that’s going to win or lose the event.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t win it (smiling), but at the time to know it and pull it off, that gave me a lot of confidence going forward, to be honest with you.”
Six events later Woods ended a more than 5-year winless drought to capture an 80th PGA Tour title with victory in the Tour Championship in Altanta.
