19th Hole
Three time Open champ: Tiger has no chance at St. Andrews…and could even retire

Despite having teed it up just twice in official competition in 2022, Tiger Woods still moves the needle.
The 15-time major champion was last seen withdrawing prior to the final round at the PGA Championship, a month after finishing 47th at Augusta, scene of five of his most notable victories, but lately has been walking the miles of links country.
Last week, the 46-year-old took part in the JP McManus Pro-Am, an all-star charity event held at 2027 Ryder Cup venue Adare Manor, whilst he is being constantly filmed and photographed practicing at St.Andrews, home of this week’s 150th Open Championship.
Whilst he will no doubt command the bulk of interest this week, what are the chances of him actually challenging for a repeat of his 2005 win at this venue when he beat Colin Montgomerie by five shots?
In an interview with Sky Sports News, Nick Faldo, who also won at St. Andrews, by five shots back in 1990, was clear in his answer to that very question.
“I don’t think there’s chances, no.”
Expanding on his answer, the six-time major champion said:
“Physically, he played at Adare Manor and was in a cart for a couple of days to rest the leg. The physical challenge is just walking a golf course and even though St Andrews looks flat, there’s so many twisting undulations walking that course, it’s going to be physically really hard work for him.
Even if Tiger was fit and strong, he doesn’t play much, and these kids are young and strong. Who knows what we’re going to get from Tiger, where he mentally is and what he’s thinking.”
With Tiger having a close affection and affinity for ‘The Old Course’, there is speculation that he may well call his retirement at the venue this week and Faldo agreed with the logic.
“If you’re going to retire then this is the place to retire, but is it too early? What does he know, and what does he believe about his leg or his golf game? What possibilities are out there? I don’t know – Tiger always keeps this very close to his chest.”
Whilst the sport has certainly had its ups-and-downs over the last few months, the weekend of the Scottish Open was filled with much positivity and a thrilling conclusion, something that surely has to continue into this week.
Faldo enhances the view that this week could be extra special.
“It’s such a historic town, great atmosphere and the golf course is one of the greatest in the world,” the three-time Masters winner stated: “it’s a different challenge but it’s a historic challenge.”
As for the strength in depth of the current players, he agreed with many. “Looking at the top 15 in the world, I would be surprised if you got a winner from outside of that because they’re all so strong. Right now, Scotland is getting some beautiful sunny but really windy weather.
If it’s a stern test, which we would obviously love, then there’s quite a bit of emphasis on the luck of the draw and how you cope with that for the four days. Having said that, I think you’ve got to look at the obvious names.”
This is going to be some week for golf.
More from the 19th Hole
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.