Tiger Woods: It's frustrating not winning

GAINESVILLE, Va. – Tiger Woods has been down this rocky road before.

It’s one of the few things he’s got going for him these days.

Ten days removed from missing the cut in the British Open on the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland, Woods, who is ranked No. 266 in the world, returned to the PGA Tour for this week’s Quicken Loans National at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

In a familiar refrain, this week’s tournament host spoke to the frustration he’s feeling inside the gallery ropes, the patience he’s testing to get through another swing change and his decision to remain steadfast to the change through his current troubles.

“I've gone through this before and unfortunately sometimes I have to get a little bit worse before I can make a giant stride to get forward and get better,” Woods said Tuesday after a practice round. “Has it been fun going through this? No, it hasn't because I'm not scoring obviously.

“ … I've had chances to make those runs and I just haven't done it.”

Unless Woods wins this week, he won’t be in the field for next week’s Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, where he’s won eight times. If he doesn’t win, his next start would be the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wis. If he doesn’t do well there, he won’t make the FedExCup Playoffs and will turn his attention to the start of the 2015-16 season in October.

Woods struggled through swing changes in the past before going on historic runs with coaches Butch Harmon and Hank Haney. He notched eight wins in 2012-13 after another swing change with Sean Foley. But since switching to swing consultant Chris Como in November 2014, he hasn’t won. In fact, he hasn’t won since the 2013 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and his world ranking is the lowest it’s been since September 1996.

This season, he has as many missed cuts and withdrawals (4) as he does cashed checks. He missed consecutive cuts in majors for the first time in his pro career. He has five rounds in the 60s and three in the 80s.

Upon leaving St. Andrews, Woods spoke to concerns about coming up short on so many approach shots and his need to check his “numbers and spin rates.” After a week off in which he went to the Bahamas with his two children and went diving every day, he got back to work.

“When I geared back up, I started doing some testing and found a couple little things but it wasn't anything major, which was nice. It was just some of my swings just weren't quite right and I worked on a few things and feel pretty good now,” Woods said. “ … Things are starting to come together. Again, I'm sticking with it, sticking with the process and just trying to make progress each and every day.”

Woods has already played 32 holes since arriving here and put in an additional 2 hours, 20 minutes of work on the range Monday. He’ll play another 18 in Wednesday’s pro-am. He’s hoping to play 72 more starting Thursday.

“It's frustrating not to be able to win golf tournaments. I'm not really there in contention very often and so that part is frustrating. But I know how close it feels and I know that I just need a couple shots here and there and it turns the tide,” Woods said. “People don't really realize how close it has been between a person who is winning and a person missing the cut. It's not as big a gap as people might think. … Obviously I’ve got to clean up my rounds, convert the opportunities that I have and I just haven't done it and hopefully I can do it this week.”

Woods’ lost season in 2014 could be attributed to his back surgery. This season, he was still recovering from the back surgery and then had to deal with chipping woes that set his long game back. Now everything is a go.

“I haven't scored very well. I missed cuts. I haven't done much in the last couple years and I haven't played a whole lot of golf in the last couple years,” Woods said. “That's what Joey (LaCava, his caddie) keeps reminding me of. ‘Would you just relax? You haven't played that much. You think about it, the times you have played and when you've been healthy how many tournaments have you been healthy at? It's not that big a number.’ Also he keeps reminding me I won five times two years ago, and so it's not that far removed."