Tiger Woods has admitted that he was unable to sleep during his flight to the UK on Saturday after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump
Tiger Woods confessed that he was unable to 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 at Royal Troon.
The former US president was targeted by a gunman during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, with the suspected shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, reportedly firing multiple shots before being fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper.
Woods disclosed that he spent the entire flight watching coverage of the incident, and as a result, found it impossible to concentrate or rest ahead of a practice round on Sunday.
Speaking to 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’ decision to participate in The Open this week has been questioned by former PGA Tour star Colin Montgomerie due to his ongoing fitness struggles.
“I hope people remember Tiger as Tiger was, the passion and the charismatic aura around him,” Montgomerie told The Times. “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.”
However, Woods had a sharp retort for Montgomerie on Tuesday when pressed about these observations in a press conference. “Well, as a past champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60. Colin is not,” Woods countered.
Tiger Woods was shaken by the attempt on Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania (Image: Getty)
Yet Montgomerie clarified his stance following the backlash, stating: “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 not made it past the cut since his second-place finish in 2018, having missed the cut in 2019 and 2022. The tournament was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Woods did not participate in 2021 or 2023.
Since his victories in 2000, 2006 and 2007, Woods has finished as runner-up twice, in 2009 and 2018.