Woods expects similar test to Hoylake 2006

Tiger Woods cut a focused figure as he addressed the media in his Open Championship press conference at Muirfield on Tuesday.

The three-time Open Champion was adamant that his injured elbow has fully healed – and it’s a good job with hard and fast fairways and thick rough sure to test his physical fitness and and accuracy off the tee.

“The elbow feels good,” Woods told a packed interview room. “It’s one of the good things of taking the time off to let it heal and get the treatment and therapy on it. I needed to have this thing set and healed. And everything is good to do.”

The hard and fast conditions are reminiscent of Hoylake in 2006 when Woods won his last Open. “I only hit one driver that week, and this golf course is playing similar to that. It’s quick.

“I’ve only played three days now but I’ve only hit a couple of drivers here. A lot of irons off the tee. Some of the holes, 4-iron was going 280 yards and 3-iron is going a little over 300 yards. So it’s quick.”

The conditions this week promise to be a stark contrast to the storm that greeted the players on the Saturday of the last Open Championship at Muirfield in 2002. Woods shot an 81, his highest round as a professional, that day.

“That was the worst I’ve ever played in,” he admitted. “I think because of the fact we weren’t prepared for it. There was a slight chance of maybe a shower. Obviously the forecast was very wrong on that.

“The wind chill was in the 30s (Fahrenheit). The umbrella became useless because the wind was blowing so hard. It was just a cold, cold day.”