Tiger Woods has insisted he still believes he can win golf tournaments as he gets set for his first official start since the 150th Open Championship at this week’s Genesis Invitational.
The 15-time Major champion made a miraculous return to the game last year at the Masters Tournament, 14 months on from a career-threatening car crash, with the American playing the PGA Championship the following month before missing the cut at the Open in July.
Woods was set to make a return after his possible goodbye to St Andrews at the Hero World Challenge in December, but pulled out of the event after developing plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
Despite his recent setbacks, Woods remains adamant he is still able to compete at the highest level.
“Well, the plan was to play. Whether or not this body would listen to me or not was the main question,” said Woods, who will be making a first non-major appearance on the PGA Tour since the Zozo Championship in October 2020.
“I can hit golf balls and do all that stuff, it’s matter of whether I have endurance in my leg, and we’ve been pushing it pretty good and able to recovery each and every day, which is great.
“If I’m playing, I play to win. I know that players have played and they are ambassadors of the game and try to grow the game.
“I can’t wrap my mind around that as a competitor. If I’m playing in the event I’m going to try and beat you.
“I’m there to get a W, OK? So I don’t understand that making the cut is a great thing.
“There will come a point in time when my body will not allow me to do that anymore, and it’s probably sooner rather than later, but wrapping my head around that transition and being the ambassador role and just trying to be out here with the guys, no, that’s not in my DNA.”
The 47-year-old will play alongside Justin Thomas and McIlroy for the first two rounds, with the tournament boasting 23 of the world’s top 25 players and all the current top 30 in the FedExCup standings.
