Tiger Woods kicks off his 2019 season on Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open at his old stomping grounds, Torrey Pines. Woods began last year at Torrey as well, but this season, he feels a lot better heading into the event. That might be due to a lot of offseason gym time, mixed in with some free diving, of course.
On Tuesday, Woods shared his thoughts on the season ahead prior to the first round in La Jolla. One of the biggest improvements he says he’s made over last year is his conditioning, and he admitted that the exhaustion got to him at the end of 2018.
“Last year toward the end of the season I got really tired, because I didn’t expect to play that much golf at the end and I didn’t train for it,” Woods said on Tuesday.
But he hopes that won’t be a problem in 2019, thanks to a few months spent training and “trying to get stronger.”
“This offseason I spent a lot of time in the gym and I’ve gotten a lot stronger,” said the 14-time major champion. “I feel like my legs are where they need to be, which they weren’t at the end of the season.”
Despite his comments, Tiger didn’t show any fatigue in terms of his results last year. In an astounding comeback campaign after a series of surgeries and off-course struggles, Woods played in 18 events, missing the cut just two times. He racked up seven top-10s which included two second-place finishes, one coming at the PGA Championship in August, and closed out the year with his 80th PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship.
But it wasn’t all work for Tiger over the winter holidays. He threw in a little play, too, in the form of one of his favorite activities: free diving in the ocean.
“To be able to do that again, to be able to get in the water and free dive, put the fins on and load the body up and drop down like that, that was something I truly missed. I love being in the water.”
Tiger begins his first round at Torrey Pines Thursday at 1:40 p.m. ET.
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