Tiger Woods paid tribute to Irish golf fans after bowing out of the Open Championship with a second round 70 at a wet and windy Royal Portrush.
The 15-times major champion, undone by a 78 on the opening day, ended his week 6-over and a handful of shots outside the projected cut.
But while it was a week to forget on the course, Woods was full of praise for the polite and supportive galleries that descended on the famous Dunluce Links.
“Oh my God, they were incredible,” he said.
“They were so nice and so respectful. The kids were respectful and that’s not always the case when we travel around the world.
“We hear some rude comments form the kids - I think the adults kind of teach them that - but they were so respectful.
“We couldn’t have played in front of a better fan base than here at
A bumper crowd of 237,750 will converge on Portrush this week - the second highest attendance in the history of the championship.
The highest? The 239,000 who watched Tiger, aged only 24, win the first of his three Claret Jugs at St Andrews in 2000.
After Thursday’s 7-over round of 78, there was zero chance of Woods, now 43 and diminished by the long term affects of injury, adding to his major tally on the North Coast.
The World No5 won his 15th major in fairytale fashion at the Masters in April but missed the cut at the USPGA and finished T21 in his last outing at the US Open five weeks ago.
“It’s frustrating because this is a major championship and I love playing in these events,” said Woods. “I love the atmosphere and I love the stress of playing in a major.
“And unfortunately, I’ve only had a chance to win one of them (this year) and was able to do it, but the other three I didn’t do very well.”
While Woods, who underwent back fusion surgery in 2017, doesn’t have the “flexibility” he once had, he believes his body is getting stronger.
“I’ve gotten so much stronger working with my physios and trying to get my body organised, so that I can play at a high level and it panned out - I won a major this year,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of being consistent. That’s one of the hardest things to accept as an older athlete that you’re not going to be as consistent as you were at 23.”
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