Before the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon, Tiger Woods shared his most heartbreaking loss.
He said losing the 2009 PGA Championship to Y.E. Yang was the toughest defeat of his career.
“The hardest loss to get over was the Y.E. Yang loss because I had the lead. I had never lost a major championship while leading. That was the first,” Woods explained.
Woods admitted that he made some silly mistakes during that round, which cost him dearly . He tried to rally but it was too late by then.
Tiger’s Struggles and Yang’s Victory
Tiger led by two shots after 54 holes at Hazeltine but struggled on Sunday’s front nine. Despite regaining the lead through 11 holes, Yang’s eagle on the 14th shifted momentum in favor of South Korea’s golfer, leaving Tiger unable to catch up and eventually bogeying the last two holes to finish three strokes behind.
Fans might feel this loss still stings for Tiger even today.
Tiger mentioned this defeat while talking about Rory McIlroy’s close call at Pinehurst during a recent US Open. He sent Rory a supportive text a week later, saying: “I just sent him a nice text… I wanted to let it calm down.” He reminded Rory that all champions face such moments and it’s part of their journey.
Even during his peak years, Tiger felt pressure and discomfort many times. “Lots of times… Nervous, shaky, uncomfortable,” he confessed, adding that these feelings are why they practice so hard and love competing.
Tiger will start his game on Thursday at 2:37 PM with Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay by his side.
What do you think about Tiger’s reflections?
