‘He’s not a past champion’: Woods hits back at Montgomerie and dismisses retirement talk

Tiger Woods has delivered a ­withering takedown of Colin Montgomerie, after the Scot suggested the ­15-times major champion should retire. Woods has arrived at Royal Troon for the 152nd Open Championship with speculation this could be his last.

The 48-year-old, who has been beset by injury troubles, finished 60th at the Masters before missing the cut in the USPGA Championship and US Open. Montgomerie, who never won a major, used a weekend interview to imply Woods should call time on his decorated career. On Tuesday, Woods fired back.

“Well, as a past [Open] champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60,” Woods said. “Colin’s not. He’s not a past ­champion, so he’s not exempt. So he doesn’t get the opportunity to make that decision. I do.”

Pressed on whether he feels he deserves the right to dictate his own playing future, Woods again ­referenced Montgomerie. “When I get to his age, I get to still make that decision, where he doesn’t,” he said. “I’ll play as long as I can play and I feel like I can still win the event.” There was a firm “no” to whether or not his belief has wavered during turbulent times.

News of the Woods broadside reached the 61-year-old Montgomerie quickly. “If golf writers want my thoughts on Tiger please ask me direct, rather than taking a quote from an interview out of context,” he said on social media. “Wishing Tiger an enjoyable and successful week.”

This was as punchy as Woods has been for some time. He was more expansive on the subject of the Ryder Cup captaincy, which he passed over after months of ­negotiations with the PGA of America. The ­38-year-old Keegan Bradley was revealed as the shock choice to lead the US at ­Bethpage next September after Woods determined the role was not for him. The likelihood is Woods will be captain at Adare Manor in 2027. For now, he is immersed in ­negotiations that may or may not lead to the PGA Tour forming an ­alliance with the Saudi Arabian Public ­Investment ­Fund.

“The decision was very difficult for me to make,” Woods said. “My time has been so loaded with the Tour and what we’re trying to accomplish. I’m on so many different subcommittees that it just takes so much time in the day. I’m always on calls.

“I told Seth [Waugh, the PGA of America’s chief executive] that I just didn’t feel like I could do the job properly. I couldn’t devote the time. I barely had enough time to do what I’m doing right now. And add in the TGL [a tech-infused golf league] starts next year, as well as the Ryder Cup. You add all that together and then with our negotiations with the PIF, all that concurrently going on at exactly the same time, there’s only so many hours in the day.

“I just didn’t feel like I would be doing the captaincy or the players in Team USA justice if I was the captain with everything that I have to do.

“Keegan is going to be a great leader. He’s very passionate about what he does. He’s very passionate about the event. This is going to be probably a turnover year for us for the captaincies, whether it’s the captain itself and his vice-captains. This is the natural progression, one we’ve been looking forward to.” Woods has not been asked to serve as a vice-captain to Bradley.

Tiger Woods consults with his caddie on the putting green at Royal Troon. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PAAn indication that tales of Woods’s demise may be premature came in context of the PGA Tour’s lucrative set of signature events. Starting in 2025, Woods has a lifetime ­exemption into them. This seems a futile ­exercise if he has no intention of playing.

skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion

“I told them, if I was going to get that exemption I wasn’t going to take away the last player’s spot,” said Woods. “Let’s hypothetically say there’s 72 players in the field at each one of the signature events. If I want to play, I’ll be the 73rd player. There will be an odd man and be a twosome out or whatever.

“I’m not going to take another ­person’s spot. Even though it’s nice of them to do that and ask me to play more often and have that ­ability to play, these guys have earned their spots. But if I can be included ­somehow, that would be great.”

Woods revealed he made ­contact with Rory McIlroy after the ­Northern Irishman’s painful implosion at ­Pinehurst last month. McIlroy conceded the US Open to Bryson DeChambeau after dropping three shots in the last four holes. “I just sent him a nice text, that was it,” Woods said. “I waited a week before I sent it. I wanted to let it calm down. I know he was being besieged by a lot of ­different things.

“It was just basically, ‘I’m your friend. I know this is a ­difficult moment.’ We’ve all been there as champions. We all lose. Unfortunately, it just happened, and the raw emotion of it, it’s still there, and it’s going to be there for, I’m sure, some time. The faster he’s able to get back on a horse and get back into contention, like he did last week, the better it is for him.”

McIlroy later explained he had changed his number so did not receive Woods’s sentiment. Unlike on Montgomerie, this was a message that did not land.