Tiger Woods is hoping that by staying on his yacht, that he calls “dinghy”, will help his chances as he competes in this week’s U.S. Open.
“Yeah, staying on the dinghy helps,” Woods joked (h/t ESPN). “There are a few guys this week who have said it’s taken them from the hotel 2½ to 3 hours and there’s a good chance that someone might be their (tee time). You get a little traffic, maybe a little fender bender, and it’s not inconceivable someone could miss their time.”
Woods has struggled at times since he came back from his fourth back surgery, but showed flashes of his form during play at the Memorial.
“Golf is always frustrating,” Woods said. “There’s always something that isn’t quite right, and that’s where we, as players, have to make adjustments. You’ve seen the tournaments I’ve played this year. There’s always something. Hopefully this is one of those weeks where I put it all together and even it out. We’ll see what happens.”
Woods said he put in significant work on his short game after he had 118 putts over four rounds at Muirfield Village.
“What I’ve done over basically my entire career is putt with those putters at home a lot,” Woods said. “And then I like to feel that in my fingers when I grab my other putter, the one you’ve seen me putt with for most of those years, and have that same swing.
“What I did at Memorial, I just didn’t feel comfortable over it. I couldn’t see my lines. And those greens were quick, and I just didn’t feel comfortable and didn’t hit many good putts. I hit a lot of bad ones.
“This is a different week, different setup, different grass. This is what I basically grew up on out there on the West Coast. Poa (annua) gets bumpy, and it requires a lot of patience. A lot of times you can hit great putts on poa, and it doesn’t go in. The key is to hit putts solid and see what happens.”