Tiger Woods‘s poor performance at the 2018 Ryder Cup was shocking to outside observers, especially coming on the heels of his comeback victory at the Tour Championship. At his charity invitational in California, Woods cited fatigue from a long season as the culprit for his struggles at Le Golf National.
Woods is on the Monterey Peninsula this week hosting the 8th annual Tiger Woods Invitational, a glitzy amateur event that benefits his TGR Foundation. Amidst holding a live discussion with former MLB commissioner Peter Ueberroth, and testing robotic golf balls with an Earl Woods Scholar mentee, Woods held an impromptu Q&A during a range session.
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When the topic of his disappointing Ryder Cup showing arose, Tiger explained that he hadn’t planned on having such a successful comeback in terms of his health. That success resulted in him playing far more events than he expected. The busy schedule took its toll by September.
“I was tired because I hadn’t trained for it. I hadn’t trained this entire comeback to play this much golf. And then on top of that deal with the heat, and the fatigue, and loss of weight.”
The next U.S. team event is the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia next December. Woods, of course, will captain the U.S. team. But with his game in fine form (he recently rose to No. 13 in the world ranking), one person asked if Tiger intended on being a playing captain for the American side.
“They just listed the points last night and I was 9th. So, I’d be asking the captain for a pick,” Woods joked, before adopting a more serious tone. “I really hope to be a playing captain, I really do.”
We’ll next see Tiger tee it up in late November when he takes on Phil Mickelson in a pay-per-view showdown. But first the 14-time major champion will get some much-needed, and much-deserved, rest.
