GAINESVILLE, Va. -- Following a missed cut in a second straight major championship for the first time in his career, Tiger Woods spent the week after The Open Championship diving off the coast of the Bahamas with his two kids.
“I didn’t touch a club for a week,” Woods said Tuesday from Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, site of this week’s Quicken Loans National. “When I geared back up, I started doing tome testing and found a couple little things, but it wasn’t anything major, which was nice.
“Some of my swings just weren’t quite right and I worked on a few things and feel pretty good now.”
Once again he’ll try to carry it to the golf course when the shots count, something he hasn’t been able to do for most of the year.
Woods, who enters this week 197th in the FedExCup standings and even lower in the Official World Golf Ranking at 266th, has made the cut in just half of his eight starts this season.
His best finish was a tie for 17th at the Masters, but even that came only after a self-imposed two-month exile to work on his game following a withdrawal at Torrey Pines because of a stiff back.
Woods’ best result since was a tie for 32nd at The Greenbrier Classic. It marked the first time he recorded three rounds in the 60s all year, and he led the field in proximity to the hole.
The success was short-lived.
In his next start, Woods shot 76-75 to miss the cut by seven strokes at St. Andrews, a place where he’d won twice before. He made just three birdies in two rounds on a soft golf course.
“I didn't think it would take this long,” Woods said of his latest swing change under consultant Chris Como. “because I thought I would have my short game earlier, which I didn't at the very beginning of the year and so you can cover up a lot of different things when you're chipping and putting well. A lot of missteps throughout the years when I've changed coaches and techniques, my short game was all pretty good.
“But things are starting to come together. Again, I'm sticking with it, sticking with the process and just trying to make progress each and everyday.”
The ironic thing is he might not get many more chances this season.
Woods isn’t yet eligible for next week’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, though a win this week would get him in.
He could play the Reno-Tahoe Invitational, opposite the event at Firestone, too, but indicated that he wouldn’t.
After that, there’s the PGA Championship followed by the Wyndham Championship (a tournament he has never played) before the FedExCup Playoffs begin.
Only the top 125 in the FedExCup standings are eligible for the postseason.
It also might not help that this year’s Quicken Loans National is being played at a course that is largely unfamiliar to Woods. The last time a tournament was played here was 10 years ago for The Presidents Cup.
Not that any of this has Woods doubting himself, frustrating as it all might be.
“The neat thing is I've done it before,” Woods said of his latest comeback. “I've gone through this and unfortunately sometimes I have to get a little bit worse before I can make a giant stride to get forward and go getter.
“It's frustrating not to be able to win golf tournaments. I'm not really there in contention very often and so that part is frustrating. But I know how close it feels and I know that I just need a couple shots here and there and it turns the tide. Every time I've had those opportunities I haven't done it.”
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