Tiger Woods dismisses critics who say he can’t win British Open

Tiger Woods, since the day he turned professional 17 years ago, has had one goal each time he tees it up in competition: just win.

Coming off back surgery and a missed cut in his only PGA Tour event ahead of this week’s British Open, the aim remains the same for the former No. 1, who claims the objective is not to stick it in the ear of the naysayers claiming he has no chance to lift his fourth claret jug come Sunday.

“Not added motivation, no,” Woods told reporters of whether he’s returned to Hoylake for the first time since he won the Open Championship in 2006 to prove he still has what it takes to break Jack Nicklaus’ mark of 18 major titles.

“I’ve been in circumstances like this before,” he said. “In ’08, I had knee surgery right after the Masters and didn’t tee it up until the U.S. Open and won a U.S. Open.”

Woods compared his missed cut at the Quicken Loans National almost three weeks ago to his situation prior to the 2008 U.S. Open, the last grand slam event he put in the win column.

“I didn’t play more than nine holes, and the Sunday before the U.S. Open I didn’t break 50 for nine holes and still was able to win it in a playoff [with a torn] ACL and a broken leg,” Woods said. “I’ve proven I can do it and it’s just a matter of putting my game [together] and giving myself the best chances this week -- to miss the ball in the correct spots, to be aggressive when I can, and obviously to hole putts.

“That’s a recipe you find for every major championship but I’ve just got to do it this week.”

So take that, Hank Haney, Curtis Strange, and everyone else who believes Woods won’t be in the hunt come Sunday at Hoylake, where in 2006 he won his 11th major. Tiger’s ears apparently aren’t burning from the many second-guessers who give him no chance to lift his fourth claret jug.

“First,” Woods said, as he always does, when someone asks what would be an acceptable finish.

Woods, 38, waxed nostalgic about his last trip around Hoylake, shortly after his father had died. He said he was surrounded by a “surreal” calm during the emotional week after he pressed at the Masters to earn what he knew would be the last win his father would witness.

He went from Augusta to the U.S. Open, where he “miserably” missed the cut, and then to Royal Liverpool.

“I came here and just felt at peace. I really, really played well. On Sunday I really felt calm out there. It was surreal at the time. I’ve had a few moments like that in majors where I’ve felt that way on a Sunday and that was certainly one of them,” Woods said. “On Sunday I really felt that my dad was with me on that one round ... It was like having my 15th club.”

Woods appeared serene on Tuesday as well, assuring that his March 31 surgery had dispelled any uncertainty about his ability to play at the elite level to which he had become accustomed. Prior to the microdiscectomy, Woods doubted whether he would ever compete again.

“When my knee was bad, it was tough but I could still chip and putt. I could still go out there on a golf course,” Woods said. “With my back, I didn’t want to do anything. I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t move around the house, I couldn’t do anything ... I couldn’t actually enjoy my life.”

Had the surgery not relieved the pain that radiated from his back down his leg and dropped him to his knees at The Barclays in August, Woods said he would have had to retire.

“If I was feeling like that then I couldn’t play again,” said Woods, who was pleased that he had no physical setbacks from his Congressional turn and that his game was getting back to peak form.

“Once I started getting stronger, more stable, I could work on my explosiveness, and start getting my speed back. Each and every week I’ve gotten stronger and faster,” he said. “Probably not quite at the level that I think I can be at as far as my explosion through the golf ball, but I’m pretty darn close.”

For sure, Woods has put in the prep work this week that Haney has often said he lacked heading into the majors. He arrived five days ahead of Thursday’s first round and played three practice rounds on Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday, working in some range work on Monday.

“I’ve played three practice rounds now and have had three different winds ... That’s awfully nice because I’ve had to hit completely different clubs off a lot of these tee shots because the winds have been so different,” Woods said. “I came here a day earlier than I normally would to have an extra day in there, as well as possibly taking a day off, if need be. And it worked out.”

While Woods got to a greener, lusher track than the brown, burned-out layout he conquered in ’06, other things have changed in those eight years as well. The players are younger and stronger and there are more of them standing in the way of Tiger nabbing that elusive No. 15.

“I think it gets harder [to win] every year, just because the fields get deeper. There are more guys with a chance to win,” Woods said. “It’s getting harder to win. The margin is so much smaller. That’s only going to continue to be the case. Guys are going to get longer, they’re going to get faster.

“Guys who are coming out here are bigger, stronger, and more athletic. When I first came out here in ‘97, I averaged somewhere just under 300 yards [off the tee] ... I walked around with Gary Woodland on Sunday and he ... can hit 320 in the air, so the game has changed a lot since then.”

As has Woods, who is a different person and golfer from the 2006 version. He’s fathered two children, suffered grievous loss, weathered a personal crisis of his own making, overhauled his golf swing and suffered through an injury unlike his many knee problems.

“It’s eight years on and my life has certainly changed a lot since then,” he said.

“As I person I’ve gone through a lot, the loss of a parent and having two kids. Life is very different than it was then. I’ve got a completely different golf swing than I did in ‘06. A lot of aspects of my game and life have changed since ‘06.”

What has not changed is Woods’ professed confidence in his ability to hoist the hardware. Whether he can get his body and game to sync up with his mind and stave off a talent-heavy field that includes top-ranked Adam Scott, early-round playing partner Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose going for his third straight victory, and defending champion Phil Mickelson remains to be seen. Tiger can be sure his many critics will be paying close attention.