PGA Championship: Tiger Woods targets major victory at Valhalla and provides Ryder Cup update

Tiger Woods discussed his major hopes at Valhalla, the possibility of Ryder Cup captaincy and the PGA Tour’s ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund ahead of the PGA Championship; Watch the first round live on Thursday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf

Tiger Woods has vowed he can still challenge for a historic 16th major title at this week’s PGA Championship, despite admitting his game isn’t as sharp as he would like.

Woods is a four-time winner of the Wanamaker Trophy, including during the 2000 edition at Valhalla as part of the infamous ‘Tiger Slam’, although he has played a limited competitive schedule in recent years due to injury.

The former world No 1 made a record-breaking 24th consecutive cut at The Masters last month before finishing last of those who made it through to the weekend, with the event being just the fourth time since November 2020 that Woods has completed all four rounds of a tournament.

Image:Can Tiger Woods contend for more major glory this week in Kentucky?

Woods said at Augusta National that he intended to complete a full major schedule this year, which hasn’t happened since 2019, with the 48-year-old now looking to take the positives from his appearance at The Masters into his latest appearance.

“I still feel that I can win golf tournaments,” Woods told the media on Tuesday. “I still feel I can hit the shots and still feel like I still have my hand around the greens and I can putt. I just need to do it for all four days, not like I did at Augusta for only two.

“It’s getting around that is more of the difficulty that I face day-to-day and the recovery of pushing myself either in practice or in competition days. You saw it at Augusta – I was there after two days and didn’t do very well on the weekend.”

Woods was seen practicing at Valhalla on Sunday before playing nine holes on both Monday and Tuesday, with the world No 807 confident he will be able to cope with the physical demands of a long and challenging golf course.

Tiger Woods has arrived at the 2024 PGA Championship 🐅#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/RPX1KlKzyo

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 12, 2024

“My body’s okay,” Woods said. “It is what it is. I wish my game was a little bit sharper. Again, I don’t have a lot of competitive reps, so I am having to rely on my practice sessions and getting stuff done either at home or here on-site.

“At the end of the day, I need to be ready mentally and physically come Thursday. One of the reasons I came up here on Sunday was to knock off some of the work that I have to do in charting greens, get all that stuff done early, so I can focus on literally playing and plotting my way around.

“I wouldn’t say the walk is that difficult. I know it’s a long walk, it’s a big piece of property. This is a big golf course and if you get in the rough here, yeah, things could get a little bit sore, but if I drive it well and do the things I need to do and what I did 24 years ago and hopefully it works.”