Tiger Woods takes break from golf after missing Open cut to fuel retirement talk

Tiger Woods has announced he will be taking a break from competitive golf after enduring a tough week at The Open Championship at Royal Troon.

Woods' championship ended prematurely on Friday, finishing at 14-over-par through 36-holes, missing the cut by some distance. Much had been said heading into the event about his future, with Colin Montgomerie suggesting it could well be time for the 48-year-old to call time on his career .

Woods however had other ideas, teeing it up at Royal Troon in his fifth start of 2024 having competed at the Genesis Invitational, as well as the Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open. On the back of a difficult week, the 15-time major champion confirmed in the aftermath that he would not be teeing it up on the PGA Tour until the Hero World Challenge in December.

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"I'm not going to play until then (the Hero World Challenge)," Woods said. "I'm going to just keep getting physically better and keep working on it."

The three-time Open champion also outlined his plans to once again play in the PNC Championship, where he will partner his son Charlie. He added: "Hopefully just come back for our, what is it, our fifth major, the Father/Son (PNC Championship), so looking forward to it."

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Many wondered whether this would be Woods' last Open, having struggled to compete, whilst also offering a wave to the Troon galleries on his way off the 18th. This was not an Open goodbye though, with Woods admitting afterwards that he has every intention of competing at Royal Portrush next year. Asked if he will be playing at the Northern Irish setup in 2025, he replied: "Next year's Open? Yeah, definitely," with a wide smile.

Having kicked off his championship with an eight-over 79 on Thursday, Woods left himself with plenty of work to do in round two, but once again struggled to find his best golf. A seven-over 78 followed on day two, with the testing Troon conditions proving all too much for the 82-time PGA Tour winner.

Assessing his Friday, Woods said: "Well it wasn't very good. I made a double there at 2 right out of the hopper when I needed to go the other way. Just was fighting it pretty much all day. I never really hit it close enough to make birdies and consequently made a lot of bogeys."