‘He’s not a former champion’: Woods responds to Montgomerie, dismisses retirement rumors | Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods beat Colin Montgomerie after the Scot suggested the 15-time major champion should retire. Woods arrived at Royal Troon for the 152nd Open Championship with speculation it could be his last.

The 48-year-old, who has been plagued by injury problems, finished 60th at the Masters before missing the cut at the USPGA Championship and the U.S. Open. Montgomerie, who has never won a major, used an interview over the weekend to suggest that Woods should end his successful career. On Tuesday, Woods fired back.

“As a former champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60,” Woods said. “Colin is not exempt. He’s not a former champion, so he’s not exempt. So he doesn’t have the ability to make that decision. I do.”

Asked whether he feels he deserves the right to decide his future as a player, Woods again referred to Montgomerie. “When I get to his age, I can still make that decision, and he won’t,” he said. “I’ll play as long as I can play and feel like I can still win the event.” He answered a resounding “no” when asked whether his belief has wavered during the turbulent times.

News of Woods’ incident quickly reached Montgomerie. “If golf journalists want to know what I think of Tiger, ask me directly, rather than taking a quote from an interview out of context,” he said on social media. “I wish Tiger a great and successful week.”

Woods has been more forceful in some time. He has been more forthcoming about the Ryder Cup captaincy, which he passed on after months of negotiations with the PGA of America. Keegan Bradley, 38, was revealed as the surprise choice to lead the United States at Bethpage next September after Woods determined that the role was not a good fit for him. Woods is likely to captain Adare Manor in 2027. For now, he is embroiled in negotiations that may or may not lead to the PGA Tour forming an alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

“It was a very difficult decision for me to make,” Woods said. “I’ve been so busy with the Tour and what we’re trying to accomplish. I’m on so many different subcommittees that it takes up so much time in the day. I’m always online.”

“I told Seth (Waugh, the PGA of America’s CEO) that I didn’t feel like I could do this job properly. I couldn’t dedicate the time to it. I barely had time to do what I’m doing right now. And when you add in the TGL (a technology-infused golf league) starting next year, the Ryder Cup, you add all that up and with our negotiations with the PIF, all of that happening simultaneously 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 captain or the players of Team USA justice if I was the captain with everything 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 year will probably be a year of change for us in terms of the captaincies, whether it’s the captain himself or his vice-captains. It’s the natural progression, one that we’re looking forward to.” Woods was not asked to serve as Bradley’s vice-captain.

Rumors of Woods’ demise may be premature in the context of the PGA Tour’s marquee events. Starting in 2025, Woods has a lifetime exemption to compete. It seems like an exercise in futility if he has no intention of competing.

“I told them if I wanted to get that exemption, I wasn’t going to take away the last guy’s spot,” Woods said. “Let’s say there’s 72 players in the field at each of the marquee events. If I wanted to play, I’d be the 73rd guy. There’d be an odd man out and a pair of guys eliminated or whatever.”

“I’m not going to take another player’s spot. As nice as it is of them to do that and ask me to play more and have that ability to play, those guys have earned their spot. But if I can be included in some way, that would be great.”

Woods revealed he reached out to Rory McIlroy after the Northern Irishman’s painful implosion at Pinehurst last month. McIlroy lost the U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau after losing three shots over the final four holes. “I just sent him a nice message, that’s all,” Woods said. “I waited a week before I sent it. I wanted to let things settle down. I know he was besieged by a lot of different things.

“Basically it was just, ‘I’m your friend. I know this is a tough time.’ We’ve all been there as champions. We all lose. Unfortunately, it happened that way, and the raw emotion of it is still there, and it will be there, I’m sure, for a while. The sooner he can get back on a horse and get back in the race, like he did last week, the better for him.”

McIlroy later explained that he had changed his number and therefore did not receive Woods’ message. Unlike Montgomerie, that message was not heard.