You might think Tiger Woods has done it all in his golf career. But there’s still something on the icon’s bucket list left to complete…
Tiger Woods has played on every iconic golf course in the world and has won on nearly all of them. His clear favorite, though, has always been the Old Course at St Andrews.
The 15-time major champion made his first visit to the Home of Golf for his debut as an amateur in the 1995 Open. He was mesmerized. Five years later, he returned to complete the career Grand Slam, managing to avoid every single bunker as he shot eight rounds in the 60s and stormed the field by eight shots. Fast forward another five years and Woods was lifting his second Claret Jug at St Andrews.
The Old Course is the place where legends like Woods are made.
Woods has returned a handful of times since his 2005 victory and has waxed lyrically about the vaunted layout at every single opportunity. He fought back tears on the Swilcan Bridge as he missed the cut in the 150th Open four years ago and you can guarantee that Woods will do everything in his power to be fit enough to wave one final goodbye to the place when the Open returns in 2027.
But beyond any lasting competitive ambitions, Woods still feels he has unfinished business at St Andrews. That’s because of the 50-year-old’s longstanding dream to play the famous course in reverse.
As far back as the 1400s, the Old Course was initially designed to be played ‘backwards’. The famous orthodox layout we know today was introduced in 1870 when Old Tom Morris created the current first green by splitting it from the 17th. Slowly, the anti-clockwise routing became the standard and the reverse layout began to die out.
However, the St Andrews Links Trust now offers a handful of lucky golfers still get the chance annually to play the course in the opposite direction – its original form.
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That’s an opportunity which also happens to be right at the top of Woods’ bucket list.
“One time a year they play it backwards,” Woods said, speaking with Jordan Spieth in the Golf Channel’s ‘Tiger Effect: 30 Years of Influence’ series.
“They play it one to 17 green, 2 to 16 green, three to 15 green… I’ve always wanted to play it that way. If you look at the golf course is set up, its sets up with openings into all those holes. The golf course is very ingenious in how it’s set up.”
Woods has been talking up his dream of playing the Old Course in reverse for over a decade now.
“It’s the Home of Golf,” he said ahead of the 2015 Open. “We all know that. But to me it’s brilliant how you can play it so many different ways. I’ve always wanted to play it backwards, one time before I die.
“I think that would be just a blast because I can see how certain bunkers – why would they put that there? And then if you play it backwards, you see it. It’s very apparent. That’s totally in play. That one day would be a lot of fun to be able to do.”