Tiger Woods and former president Donald Trump have crossed paths many times, most notably when Trump awarded Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019. In the wake of an attempted assassination of Trump this past weekend, Woods said he couldn’t sleep and didn’t arrive in Scotland in the right frame of mind for this week’s Open Championship.
“I didn’t accomplish a lot because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind,” Woods told the BBC. “It was a long night [in the wake of the assassination attempt] and that’s all we watched the entire time on the way over here.”
Woods is preparing to play in the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland, and had little time for recuperation once he arrived. “I didn’t sleep at all on the flight,” Woods said, “and then we just got on the golf course.”
Woods played an 18-hole round at Royal Troon alone on Sunday, practicing chipping and putting around the greens. He hasn’t won the Open Championship since 2006, and hasn’t played in a tournament since last month’s U.S. Open. This week’s tournament is likely to be the last Woods plays in 2024.
The Open Championship begins Thursday morning, with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy listed as the favorites to capture the year’s final major.
