By now, Tiger Woods ought to have had an opportunity to defend his Masters title. By now, there needs to be a solution for his rabid followers about simply how a lot time they need to commit to cheering him on within the U.S. Open.

However in a yr the place solutions are exhausting to come back from anyplace, there isn’t a easy one about his probabilities of profitable a fourth Open championship.

It’s so difficult that even Woods appears to be having issues figuring it out.

“This yr I actually haven’t putted in addition to I needed to, and the occasions I did make a number of swing errors, I missed it within the incorrect spots,’’ Woods mentioned Tuesday. ”Consequently, I simply didn’t have the appropriate seems at it. I’ve compounded errors right here and there that ended up not making me in a position to make pars or a birdie run, and consequently I haven’t put myself in competition to win occasions.’’

Don’t really feel unhealthy if that appeared troublesome to comply with. With Woods we’ve been guessing at issues for years.

Is his again OK? Is he rusty from not taking part in sufficient? How in regards to the putter?

And add this one into the combo for this match: On the age of 44 will he be capable of match gamers 20 years youthful relating to hacking out of the tough and steadying himself on the 6-footers for par?

We’ll know quickly sufficient, with Woods teeing off early Thursday at Winged Foot in a pairing that features two gamers who, in contrast to Woods, have much more skilled golf of their future than they do of their previous. One among them, newly topped PGA champion Collin Morikawa, wasn’t even born when Woods gained his first PGA match in 1996, whereas Justin Thomas, till final month, was formally the very best participant in golf.

Oddsmakers don’t precisely fancy his probabilities, making Woods a 35-1 shot to edge nearer to the most important file he doesn’t maintain in golf — the 18 majors gained by Jack Nicklaus. Woods himself doesn’t sound terribly assured, even when he’s not fairly prepared but to take his place as an elder statesman of golf.

“I believe it will get tougher to win as all of us age,’’ he mentioned.

Compounding the difficulty for Woods this week isn’t essentially the size of Winged Foot, which stretches practically 7,500 yards with a par of 70. He’s loads lengthy to nonetheless be aggressive with gamers like Thomas and Morikawa, even when they’ll possible be outdriving him within the opening rounds.

It’s what occurs when he can’t discover the golf green and must scramble that would be the hardest half. By all accounts, the tough at Winged Foot is brutal, which suggests Woods might want to overcome errors off the tee with the sort of brief sport that has gained him 15 majors.

Sadly, the putts underneath 10 toes that was once automated for Woods are automated not. It would not assist that he missed the FedEx playoffs and hasn’t performed competitively in three weeks.

There’s additionally the truth that in six rounds in two main championships at Winged Foot, Woods is a mixed 18-over-par. That features the 2006 Open at Winged Foot, the place Woods shot 76-76 and missed the reduce.

Nonetheless, as his magical win on the Masters final yr reminded everybody, it could be a mistake to promote him brief.

“Once I gained the Masters final yr I used to be not feeling significantly properly previous to that,’’ Woods mentioned. ”My neck was bothering me. I didn’t play in Bay Hill. For some motive I felt bodily higher and my coaching classes felt good. I modified shafts in my driver proper earlier than the occasion, and I used to be in a position to begin turning the ball over. Then impulsively I put myself in competition and I wasn’t actually — I wasn’t main however I used to be close to the lead, and every day I progressively obtained a bit of bit higher, and are available Sunday, I put all of the items collectively.’’

Might that occur once more at Winged Foot, a course that doesn’t have the vast fairways of Augusta Nationwide and is lined with deep tough? A course that Woods doesn’t know practically as properly and hasn’t had earlier success?

Woods isn’t making predictions, and anybody else is just guessing. Issues are inclined to occur in golf that may’t be predicted, as evidenced by Morikawa’s win on the PGA Championship final month in his first main as an expert.

One factor is evident: Time is operating out on Woods if he’s so as to add 4 extra main titles to interrupt the file he needs probably the most. And snagging one throughout a pandemic could be an ideal springboard heading into the Masters in November, the place he would be the defending champion.

In the meantime, don’t overlook. He’s Tiger Woods.

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Tim Dahlberg is a nationwide sports activities columnist for The Related Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org or http:twitter.com/timdahlberg