Tiger Woods revealed he arrived at Royal Troon following a sleepless flight induced by the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

The 15-time major winner was flying from Florida to Scotland Saturday night for the 152nd Open Championship, which takes place at Royal Troon later this week, when the former President was shot at.

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The 48-year-old admitted he wasn’t as fresh as he would have liked for his first practice round Sunday as he was engrossed by the coverage of the incident rather than catching up on his rest on the flight across the Atlantic.

‘I didn’t accomplish a lot because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind,’ Woods told BBC Sport Tuesday.

‘It was a long night [because of the assassination attempt] and that’s all we watched the entire time on the way over here.

‘I didn’t sleep at all on the flight, and then we just got on the golf course.’

Trump was left bleeding from his ear after being shot on stage at a rally in a horrific attack by a would-be assassin, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks.

A barrage of rifle rounds rained down shortly after the former president got up to speak on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding Trump in the ear and killing retired fire chief Corey Comperatore.

Two other supporters were critically injured by stray bullets in the assassination attempt.

Trump was pictured repeatedly pumping his fist with blood dripping from his face while being swarmed by Secret Service agents. Moments later, he was rushed away to safety.

Woods has rarely engaged in politics during his career, preferring to remain publicly apolitical but he did reveal in 2018, during Trump’s term in office, that he had known the former president for a number of years before he took office.

‘I’ve known Donald for a number of years. We’ve played golf together. We’ve had dinner together. I’ve known him pre-presidency and obviously during his presidency,’ Woods told New York Times reporter John Branch.

At the time, he was further pressed about his relationship with Trump in light of the Republican candidate’s policies on immigration.

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Well, he’s the President of the United States. You have to respect the office,’ he responded.

Woods also accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump in 2019 at a time when many athletes were shunning invitations to the White House.

However, Woods has also golfed across the aisle as well. He has reportedly hit the fairways with former president Barack Obama, whose election as the first African-American president in 2008 was hailed as ‘incredible’ by the golf legend.

‘I think it’s absolutely incredible,’ Woods told CNBC, per ESPN, at the time. ‘He represents America. He’s multiracial.

‘I was hoping it would happen in my lifetime. My father was hoping it would happen in his lifetime, but he didn’t get to see it. I’m lucky enough to have seen a person of color in the White House…He would have cried. Absolutely. No doubt about it.’

Meanwhile, Woods took center stage Tuesday as he addressed the media ahead of the final major championship of the year where targets a coveted 16th victory.

However, while Woods still believes he has a shot at major triumph, insisting time again that he wouldn’t turn up at a tournament if he didn’t believe he could be competitive, this year’s results spell out a different story.

The golf icon missed the cut at both the PGA Championship and the US Open and while he battled through to the weekend at the Masters, he finished in 60th and last place.

Yet, Woods fixed his glare on those who asked him why we could expect anything different in the coming days on a course that he conceded will ‘eat you up’ if conditions turn.

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‘I’ll play as long as I can play and I feel like I can still win the event,’ he said, brusquely.

When asked whether his belief has wavered, he was even more economical with his words. ‘No,’ came the blunt reply.

Woods has played just nine competitive rounds through 2024 but will still be the main attraction in Ayrshire this week.

‘I wish I had a little bit more under my belt but I’ve been battling some stuff physically,’ he said.

‘I want to save it for the majors. I don’t want to burn myself out pre-major and not be able to play.’

Tiger Woods has delivered a ­withering takedown of Colin Montgomerie, after the Scot suggested the ­15-times major champion should retire. Woods has arrived at Royal Troon for the 152nd Open Championship with speculation this could be his last.

The 48-year-old, who has been beset by injury troubles, finished 60th at the Masters before missing the cut in the USPGA Championship and US Open. Montgomerie, who never won a major, used a weekend interview to imply Woods should call time on his decorated career. On Tuesday, Woods fired back.

“Well, as a past [Open] champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60,” Woods said. “Colin’s not. He’s not a past ­champion, so he’s not exempt. So he doesn’t get the opportunity to make that decision. I do.”

Pressed on whether he feels he deserves the right to dictate his own playing future, Woods again ­referenced Montgomerie. “When I get to his age, I get to still make that decision, where he doesn’t,” he said. “I’ll play as long as I can play and I feel like I can still win the event.” There was a firm “no” to whether or not his belief has wavered during turbulent times.

News of the Woods broadside reached the 61-year-old Montgomerie quickly. “If golf writers want my thoughts on Tiger please ask me direct, rather than taking a quote from an interview out of context,” he said on social media. “Wishing Tiger an enjoyable and successful week.”

This was as punchy as Woods has been for some time. He was more expansive on the subject of the Ryder Cup captaincy, which he passed over after months of ­negotiations with the PGA of America. The ­38-year-old Keegan Bradley was revealed as the shock choice to lead the US at ­Bethpage next September after Woods determined the role was not for him. The likelihood is Woods will be captain at Adare Manor in 2027. For now, he is immersed in ­negotiations that may or may not lead to the PGA Tour forming an ­alliance with the Saudi Arabian Public ­Investment ­Fund.

“The decision was very difficult for me to make,” Woods said. “My time has been so loaded with the Tour and what we’re trying to accomplish. I’m on so many different subcommittees that it just takes so much time in the day. I’m always on calls.

“I told Seth [Waugh, the PGA of America’s chief executive] that I just didn’t feel like I could do the job properly. I couldn’t devote the time. I barely had enough time to do what I’m doing right now. And add in the TGL [a tech-infused golf league] starts next year, as well as the Ryder Cup. You add all that together and then with our negotiations with the PIF, all that concurrently going on at exactly the same time, there’s only so many hours in the day.

“I just didn’t feel like I would be doing the captaincy or the players in Team USA justice if I was the captain with everything that I have to do.

“Keegan is going to be a great leader. He’s very passionate about what he does. He’s very passionate about the event. This is going to be probably a turnover year for us for the captaincies, whether it’s the captain itself and his vice-captains. This is the natural progression, one we’ve been looking forward to.” Woods has not been asked to serve as a vice-captain to Bradley.

An indication that tales of Woods’s demise may be premature came in context of the PGA Tour’s lucrative set of signature events. Starting in 2025, Woods has a lifetime ­exemption into them. This seems a futile ­exercise if he has no intention of playing.

“I told them, if I was going to get that exemption I wasn’t going to take away the last player’s spot,” said Woods. “Let’s hypothetically say there’s 72 players in the field at each one of the signature events. If I want to play, I’ll be the 73rd player. There will be an odd man and be a twosome out or whatever.

“I’m not going to take another ­person’s spot. Even though it’s nice of them to do that and ask me to play more often and have that ­ability to play, these guys have earned their spots. But if I can be included ­somehow, that would be great.”

Woods revealed he made ­contact with Rory McIlroy after the ­Northern Irishman’s painful implosion at ­Pinehurst last month. McIlroy conceded the US Open to Bryson DeChambeau after dropping three shots in the last four holes. “I just sent him a nice text, that was it,” Woods said. “I waited a week before I sent it. I wanted to let it calm down. I know he was being besieged by a lot of ­different things.

“It was just basically, ‘I’m your friend. I know this is a ­difficult moment.’ We’ve all been there as champions. We all lose. Unfortunately, it just happened, and the raw emotion of it, it’s still there, and it’s going to be there for, I’m sure, some time. The faster he’s able to get back on a horse and get back into contention, like he did last week, the better it is for him.”

McIlroy later explained he had changed his number so did not receive Woods’s sentiment. Unlike on Montgomerie, this was a message that did not land.

Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake have been given the green light to convert a cinema in St Andrews into a luxury sports bar despite a petition against the plans.

Golf legend Tiger Woods and pop icon Justin Timberlake have been granted permission to transform an old cinema in St Andrews into a high-end sports bar.

The duo, who are shareholders in the Nexus Luxury Collection, have received approval from Fife Council to convert the New Picture House Cinema.

St Andrews, often referred to as the ‘home of golf’, has hosted the Open Championship 30 times, with the most recent event in 2022 won by Cameron Smith. The New Picture House is conveniently located near the golf course.

In their statement, the council said: “The proposal is considered acceptable in terms of design, detailing and choice of materials; and would protect and enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area.

“As such, the proposal is considered to be in compliance with the relevant policies of the development plan and relevant guidelines.”

The project is expected to create between 40 and 45 jobs. The current owners of the cinema revealed in planning documents that the New Picture House ‘currently runs at under 10 per cent occupancy and is no longer a viable stand-alone cinema operation.’

Last year, Woods and Timberlake launched a luxury T-Squared Social bar in New York, a concept born after a round of golf in the Bahamas, reports the Mirror.

The new venue in St Andrews will bear the same name.

A local petition, amassing over 12,000 signatures last year, fiercely opposed the proposed changes by Woods and Timberlake, claiming it would “strip away a vital part of our town’s identity and history”.

The cinema was described as the “heart and soul of St Andrews”, with the redevelopment plans labelled “deeply alarming”.

However, following significant public pressure, the original redevelopment plans were altered.

The petition organisers later revealed they had engaged in discussions with T-Squared Social, stating: “We believe that their business plans align with our desire to make the cinema a thriving establishment and a pillar of the St Andrews community.”

They added: “After an incredible 12,000 signatures and a successful campaign, they’ve listened to all our concerns, so we have arrived at a position where we are comfortable to work closely together with them for the good of the cinema.”