“That was the time,” Tiger Woods’ former Ryder Cup rival Colin Montgomerie once claimed golf legend should have RETIRED after Open Championship in 2022

Colin Montgomerie, a former Ryder Cup rival of Tiger Woods believes the golf veteran missed a golden chance to retire in 2022.

“That was the time,” Tiger Woods’ former Ryder Cup rival Colin Montgomerie once claimed golf legend should have RETIRED after Open Championship in 2022

Colin Montgomerie (L) and Tiger Woods (R) [Pic Credit: Sky Sports/Imago]

The golf world right now is beaming with joy as Tiger Woods announced his return to golf greens. The veteran golfer is set to return to action at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. This would mark his first appearance at the golf course since the Masters in April. However, his former Ryder Cup rival Colin Montgomerie once believed that he should have called it a day in his career in 2022.

Since his off-field relationship issues came to the spotlight, Woods had struggled on the greens. He would even go on a five-year-long stretch without a win as he continued to see a decline in form. Though Woods bounced back triumphantly at the 2019 Masters, his life would take an ugly turn as he got involved in a huge car crash.

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Fortunately, the 82-time PGA Tour winner survived that crash. As predicted by many, things have not been easy for him since then. Since then this golf career has seen several stop-starts. He has only played on five events since the horrific accident in Los Angeles and has managed a full 72-hole event only twice.

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One of the five events mentioned above included the 150th Open Championship. A three-time Open winner, this was an emotional return for him. Montgomerie believed Woods had the “golden opportunity” to announce his retirement at the Open Championship at St. Andrews in 2022.

Should Tiger Woods have announced his retirement in 2022?

After his car crash, many connected to golf had even wondered whether Tiger Woods would ever be able to walk let alone play the sport. Since his debut, he had dominated the scene thus becoming one of the greats to ever play this game. Colin Montgomerie though claims that Woods should have waved his goodbye to the fans at St. Andrews.

The 15-time major champion was still not back at his best and missed the cut at the Open Championship. As this was the 150th event of the tournament, it was a special moment for Woods. The course of St. Andrews also played a part in him becoming emotional as he won the championship twice on his course.

Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods (Pic Credit: Imago)
"That was the time. Stand on that bridge, start waving, and everyone goes, ‘So, is that it?’ Yeah, it is. It would have been a glorious way to go. The stands were full, the world’s TV cameras, from all continents, were on him, he’s walking up there on his own, tears were in his eyes obviously… you can’t beat that walk".
Colin Montgomerie as per The Mirror

All these words from Montgomerie raise a critical question in the minds of fans – should Tiger Woods have announced his retirement at the Open Championship? While he was in an emotional state, this was perhaps not the way he wanted to end his tenure.

One day Woods will surely announce his decision to step down. He thought would be hoping to write one last glorious chapter before calling it a day on his legendary career.

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