Tiger Woods reveals this may be his last British Open at St. Andrews

We are at the halfway point of the 2022 British Open. Cameron Smith of Australia is at -13 and in the lead. He is followed by American Cameron Young, the PGA Tour rookie who is sponsored by Major League Baseball at -11, and then Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who are both at -10, and in a two-way tie for third place.

However, one of the biggest stories at the 2022 British Open centred around one of golf’s greats in Tiger Woods. The 46-year-old from Cypress, California, who has won 15 major titles, revealed this could be his last British Open at St. Andrews. On Friday, Woods shot a second round score of  +9 and was nine strokes back of the cut line at even par.

Now, let us all be clear. Woods did not state this would be his last British Open. Just that this would be his last major event at the Old Course, where he won in 2000 and 2005. In 2000, Woods shot a remarkable four-round score of -19 to beat Thomas Bjorn of Denmark and Ernie Els of South Africa by eight strokes.

Just how spectacular were these four rounds of golf for Woods? Woods’s score of -19 was at the time the best four-round score ever at the British Open. It has since been broken by Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who posted a four-round score of -20 to beat American Phil Mickelson by three strokes at the 2016 British Open at Royal Troon.

Then when Woods won the 2005 British Open at St. Andrews, he was not as dominant. However, he still posted a four-round score of -14 to beat Colin Montgomerie by five strokes. Woods is one of five golfers all-time to win the British Open at St. Andrews twice. He is joined by Bob Martin of Cupar, Scotland (1876 and  1885), John Henry Taylor of Northam, England (1895 and 1900), James Braid of Earlsferry, Scotland (1905 and 1910), and Jack Nicklaus of Columbus, Ohio (1970 and 1978).

Woods has competed at three other British Opens at St. Andrews. He also competed in 1995, 2010 and 2015. In 1995, Woods was competing in his very first British Open, and it just so happened to be at the Old Course. The tournament was won by John Daly of Carmichael, California, who beat Constantino Rocca of Bergamo, Italy in a playoff. Woods was tied for 68th at +7, and was 13 strokes off the lead. The other headline at the 1995 British Open was the fact it was the last British Open for golf legend Arnold Palmer, who won the British Open in back-to-back years in 1961 and 1962.

In 2010, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa was victorious with a four-round score of -16. Oosthuizen beat Lee Westwood of England by seven strokes. Just like in 1995, Woods was 13 shots off the lead. However this time Woods was under par at -3, and was tied for 23rd place.

In 2015, Zach Johnson of the United States won the British Open in a playoff over Oosthuizen and Australia’s Marc Leishman. Woods missed the cut that year. It was one of three missed cuts for Woods in 2015 as he also missed the cut at the 2015 United States Open at Chambers Bay and the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.