Open: Woods tells Spieth to stick to gameplan

TIGER Woods has urged Jordan Spieth to stick to his gameplan when the young American bids to take a third step towards an unprecedented calendar Grand Slam in the 144th Open Championship at St Andrews tomorrow.
Jordan Spieth is bidding to take a third step towards an unprecedented calendar Grand Slam. Picture: PAJordan Spieth is bidding to take a third step towards an unprecedented calendar Grand Slam. Picture: PA
Jordan Spieth is bidding to take a third step towards an unprecedented calendar Grand Slam. Picture: PA

Woods was the man in Spieth’s shoes 13 years ago, arriving for this event at Muirfield on the back of victories in The Masters and US Open earlier that season.

After opening rounds of 70 and 68, he was still in with a chance of re-writing the record books only to get an unlucky break when he went out in the worst of the weather as it turned nasty in East Lothian for the third round.

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That led to him slumping to an 81 before he bounced back with a brilliant closing 65, but it was an opportunity missed and now he is fascinated to see how Spieth fares in his bid this week.

“I was right there with a great chance going into the weekend, but just happened to catch the bad weather at the wrong time on the Saturday,” recalled Woods of how his bid to win all four majors in the same season came to an end.

Having stopped to watch Spieth hit balls on the range at St Andrews yesterday, he added: “Jordan is obviously playing well. He’s in great form and it’s just a matter of him going out there and executing his gameplan. That’s what he thinks about a lot – formulating a gameplan and executing it.

“This is a golf course where you have to do that. You have to trust it and execute it. You also have to be a very good lag putter because you’re going to have a good shot sometimes that is going to be 60-70 feet away and it’s difficult to get close from that distance.

“To be able to lag those putts stone dead, especially if the wind is blowing hard, is very key.”

Gusts of between 30-35mph are being forecast for tomorrow, when heavy rain could also be a possibility.