Tiger Woods not ready to Retire: ‘I love competing, and I love playing’

By Cheri Cheng - 14 Jul '15 10:38AM

Tiger Woods is not ready to retire just yet despite his lack of success over these past two years.

The last time Woods won a PGA Tour was in August 2013 when he was the player of the year. His last major win was in 2008 at the U.S. Open. Ever since the 39-year-old golfer injured his back, he has not been the same player. When asked about potentially retiring, Woods made a joke that he is too young to stop playing.

"Well, retirement? I don't have any AARP card [a discount group for people 50 and older] yet, so I'm a ways from that. I feel like my body is finally healed up from the [lower-back disk] surgery from last year. They say it takes you about four to six months to get back, but I've heard a lot of guys on tour who have the surgery and other athletes who say it takes over a year to get back," Woods said. "I think they were probably closer to being right -- it being a full year to get back. It would have been one thing if I would have gone through the procedure and then had the same golf swing, but I've changed the golf swing, too, on top of that. So that was kind of a double dipper there where I had to fight both at the same time."

Woods has gone more than 18 months without a finish in the top 10. His world golf ranking has plummeted to 241. Despite no longer being on top, Woods is just not ready to give the sport up.

"I know some of you guys think I'm buried and done, but I'm still right here in front of you," Woods said. "I love playing. I love competing, and I love playing these events."

Woods is very excited to be playing in his fifth Open at the Old Course in the United Kingdom.

"I'm very excited," Woods said. "Very excited to be back here at the home of golf. I've always loved this golf course -- from the first time I played it back in '95 -- so it's just something special about it. It's nice to be out there on the course and see it and feel it again, to be able to hit all the shots.

Woods will play on Thursday at 4:55 a.m. ET alongside Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen.