Tiger Woods will return to Scotland to contest the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie after event organisers revealed the former world number one had confirmed his entry.
The line-up for the Open each year includes past champions who gain automatic entry regardless of world ranking position. As a former three-time winner of the Open Championship, Woods has to inform organisers—the R&A—of his intention to participate before qualifying events begin.
As a result, it has been revealed that Woods has confirmed his participation to the R&A and will be teeing it up at Carnoustie in July, having missed the last two Opens at Royal Troon in 2016 and Royal Birkdale last year while sidelined with injury.
“Three-time Champion Golfer Tiger Woods plans to tee it up at Carnoustie for The 147th Open after confirming his entry into golf’s original Championship,” organisers of The Open confirmed. “Woods has played at The Open Championship on 19 occasions and his arrival at Carnoustie this July would mark his return after missing out on contesting the Championship at Royal Troon and Royal Birkdale in each of the last two years.”
The 2018 Open Championship: Tiger’s return
Woods has played Carnoustie twice on the Open rota, finishing seventh in 1999 and 12th in 2008. “I just love the course,” The Open quoted Woods as saying about the test of Carnoustie. “It’s so tough. This is by far the hardest of all the courses on the Open rota.”
Woods’ first visit to the Scottish venue was followed the next year by the first of his three victories in the Open Championship, when the 14-time major winner lifted the Claret Jug at St Andrews in 2000. He repeated the feat on the Old Course in 2005 and won his most recent Open in 2006 at Royal Liverpool.
Woods has missed four of the subsequent 11 Opens since that victory, but did go close to a fourth win in the major in both 2012 at Royal Lytham & St Annes and 2013 at Muirfield when finishing third and sixth respectively. His last appearance in the Open came about in 2015 when he missed the cut at St Andrews, the scene of two of his wins.
This year, Woods has impressed during his comeback season after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury. His early season form caught the eye and bookmakers made him one of the favourites for the 2018 Masters Tournament at Augusta. Woods eventually finished tied 32nd in the year’s first major, but he has gone close to adding to his 79 PGA TOUR wins career wins in the opening third of the year.
2018 is proving to be a challenging—yet rewarding—year for Tiger Woods. He placed second in the Valspar Championship, fifth in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 11th in THE PLAYERS, 12th in the Honda Classic and 23rd in the Farmers Insurance Open in what has been a better than expected return from four years of troublesome injuries. Could he complete a dream return to Scotland and triumph in the 2018 Open Championship?
The 2018 Open Championship will take place from 19-22 July at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland.
See also: Tiger Woods’ New Irons Revealed