Tiger’s back, but is he ready?

HOYLAKE — Eight years after his memorable British Open triumph, Tiger Woods was reunited with the Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Saturday. Yet it was difficult to tell which was the more changed: The course or the golfer.

Mother Nature has largely decreed that the links is lush and green instead of burnt and brown, while Father Time is maybe responsible for the transformation in Woods. He has played just two competitive rounds in over four months because of back surgery, and the 38-year-old arrived without a Major victory in more than six years.

He showed he means business, however, flying in five days before the Championship begins, just like he did eight years ago, when he won his 11th Major on this course.

Woods was then straight out on the course to begin preparation for the 143rd Open, playing 12 holes in the drizzle with fellow American Patrick Reed.

Woods certainly sounded confident afterwards.

“The little baby steps worked. We were very diligent about what I was doing (in rehab). I can do whatever I want now,” he said.

“Before I had the procedure, I couldn’t do anything. I had been playing with (the back injury) for a while and I had my good weeks and bad weeks. Now they are all good. I’ve got my speed back and I’m starting to hit the ball out there again.”

Of course, it is not his fault that he suffered a pinched nerve, which required a micro discectomy.

Sympathy should surely be the order of the day, but as always with Woods, the criticism is what grabbed the headlines.

Experts have begged him to play another prep event in the last fortnight, after missing the cut on his latest return to action.

One of these was Curtis Strange, Woods’ former Ryder Cup captain.

“Even before his surgery, he wasn’t playing well … when you have an operation and been out for three months, you’re not going to a better player,” Strange said.

Woods’ former coach Hank Haney took it further, claiming Woods’ refusal to play another pre-Open warm-up event is proof he is not as committed as he once was.

“I really think he is using the Open for next month’s USPGA,” Haney told The Scotsman. That is a stunning claim, considering Woods’ reputation as possessing the most unquenchable desire in sport.

The other take on this is that seeing Tiger roar back from an operation, from which others much younger have taken a year to reappear, still points to a richly competitive spirit. Only Tiger and the Hoylake course can tell us which opinion is right.