Tiger braces for brutal Open at Winged Foot

MANILA, Philippines — Tiger Woods returns to the US Open at Winged Foot this week with a score to settle against a course he regards as one of the three toughest in the world.

During more than a decade of dominance between Woods’ first major victory in 1997 and his 14th major at the 2008 US Open, the former world number one played in 46 consecutive majors.

That streak of 46 tournaments included only one missed cut – at the 2006 US Open held at Winged Foot.

Woods, who collected the 15th major of his career at last year’s Masters, is preparing for another demanding assignment in New York this week.

The 44-year-old believes only Oakmont in Pennsylvania and Carnoustie Links in Scotland run Winged Foot close in terms of difficulty.

“It’s right up there next to Oakmont and I think Carnoustie as far as just sheer difficulty without even doing anything to it,” Woods said Tuesday.

“Those three golf courses, they can host major championships without ever doing anything to them. (Winged Foot) or Oakmont is either one or two.”

Woods scouted Winged Foot ahead of last month’s Northern Trust in Boston, and came away convinced that the course remains as brutal as ever.

“This golf course is going to be one of the more difficult ones,” Woods said.