Golf legend Tiger Woods recalls reaction to Donald Trump assassination attempt news
Tiger Woods confessed that he couldn’t sleep on his flight from Florida to the UK on Saturday, following the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump. The incident seems to have disrupted the 15-time major championship winner’s preparations for The Open in Royal Troon. Trump, the former US president and candidate for the 2024 election, was…
Tiger Woods confessed that he couldn’t sleep on his flight from Florida to the UK on Saturday, following the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump. The incident seems to have disrupted the 15-time major championship winner’s preparations for The Open in Royal Troon.
Trump, the former US president and candidate for the 2024 election, was targeted by a gunman during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. The suspected shooter reportedly fired multiple shots before being killed by a Secret Service sniper. Woods disclosed that he spent his entire flight watching coverage of the incident. Instead of getting some rest and arriving refreshed for a practice round on Sunday, he found it impossible to concentrate with his mind preoccupied.
In an interview with the BBC, Woods said: “I didn’t accomplish a lot because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. It was a long night [because of the assassination attempt] and that’s all we watched the entire time on the way over here. I didn’t sleep at all on the flight, and then we just got on the golf course.”
Woods is entering the tournament amidst controversy with former PGA Tour star Colin Montgomerie, who questioned the 48-year-old’s decision to participate in The Open this week due to his ongoing fitness issues. “I hope people remember Tiger as Tiger was, the passion and the charismatic aura around him,” Montgomerie told The Times.
Montgomerie expressed his concerns about Woods’ enjoyment of the game: “There is none of that now. At Pinehurst, he did not seem to enjoy a single shot and you think ‘What the hell is he doing? ‘ He’s coming to Troon and he won’t enjoy it there either. Aren’t we there? I’d have thought we were past there. There is a time for all sportsmen to say goodbye but it’s very difficult to tell Tiger it’s time to go. Obviously, he still feels he can win. We are more realistic.”
Woods fired back at Montgomerie on Tuesday after he was asked about Montgomerie’s comments in the press conference. “Well, as a past champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60. Colin is not,” Woods said. “He is not a past champion, so he’s not exempt. So he doesn’t get the opportunity to make that decision. I do. So when I get to his age, I get to still make that decision, where he doesn’t.”
Montgomerie then clarified his comments, suggesting they were misconstrued: “If Golf Writers want my thoughts on Tiger please ask me direct, rather than taking a quote from an interview out of context. Wishing Tiger an enjoyable and successful week.”
The three-time Open champion has struggled to make it past the cut since his second-place finish in 2018, missing out in both 2019 and 2022. The tournament was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Woods didn’t participate in 2021 or 2023.
Despite his victories in 2000, 2006, and 2007, Woods has only managed to secure runner-up positions twice since, in 2009 and 2018.