Tiger Woods’ game is ‘starting to come together’ for Quicken Loans event

But as he gets back at it again this week – with no end in sight to his slump – Woods let slip a few frustration during his press conference at the Quicken Loans National, the tournament he’s hosting at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

GAINESVILLE, Va.>> Tiger Woods knows he’s played poorly over the past two years.

He’d better do it in a big way because his season is running out on him.

Normally, the Quicken Loans National would be the beginning of a busy stretch of golf for Woods, including the year’s final major, a World Golf Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The former world number has plummeted to a mind-boggling 266th in the rankings, making him ineligible for next week’s elite WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio where he has triumphed a record eight times. “This year I’m still recovering and still trying to make a big major swing change”, he said on Tuesday at the Quicken Loans National. Last year, he missed three months after back surgery, and this year he took two months off to fix a balky short game.

Although outwardly Woods has appeared to be enduring his most recent struggles with grudging acceptance, the truth is the guy who won 14 majors is as competitive as ever and is simmering under the surface.

It’s never easy to truly assess a golfers practice round as they’re often tinkering with different shots, grips and techniques, etc. The crowds following Woods weren’t like they used to be when he dominated the sport but plenty were out to see him. It’s dated form and the course will play differently, but on a week where we’ve very little to go at strikes me as nice addition to an already likeable profile. “You need to have those opportunities and I’ve had chances to make those runs and I just haven’t done it”.

If Woods is feeling stressed, it wasnt evident during Tuesday mornings practice round. Woods played alongside his good friend Arjun Atwal who will play with a sponsor’s exemption. “Im not 40 yet, ” said Woods, wholl reach that milestone in December.

Tiger Woods is, in many ways, the ultimate grinder. He said he hits the ball about a club farther in the muggy summer weather — in contrast to the cold and wind he battled in the British Open at St. Andrews, where he missed the cut. “Some of my swings just werent quite right.”.

Woods missed the cut at this tournament a year ago at Congressional, but there were understandable excuses then. He’s shot five rounds in the 60s and three rounds in the 80s.

Wagner has ties with Texas where he was born, New York where he was raised and North Carolina where he now calls home, but it was here in Virginia that he studied and met his wife. “No, it hasn’t because I’m not scoring obviously”. “You had those two together it’s a ideal storm and I’ve had to fight through both of those at the same time”. This year its being played for the first time at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, about 35 miles west of the nations capital.