Tiger Woods’s health has been in the headlines since 2009! Sometimes for his bulked-up physique, sometimes for his injury! Yet again the community has found another concern, just before the Open Championship. As he was present at the press conference before the last major of the season, the golfer dropped some crucial information regarding his visibly leaner physique and his training. Needless to say, it did not impress fans.

In his latest post on the X handle, Dan Rapaport shared a photo of Tiger Woods from the 152nd edition of The Open Championship’s press conference. The golfer looked extremely lean and appeared to have lost considerable weight. Thus, Rapaport mentioned, “Tiger looks noticeably leaner this week. The cold and wet Scottish conditions won’t help, but he says he’s continuing to progress physically.”

When Tiger Woods was asked about his practice being hard due to his health issues over time, the golfer had a better answer in store. He said, “I’ve been training a lot better.” The golfer’s explanation about his physique pointed towards the change in training. He announced, “We’ve been busting it pretty hard in the gym. Body’s been feeling better to be able to do such things, and it translates on being able to hit the ball better. Can’t quite stay out there during a practice session as long as I’d like, but I’m able to do some things that I haven’t done all year, which is nice.”

But when the golf community saw Woods’ visible change, they could not resist pouring out their unfiltered opinions. Let us look at their reaction to Woods’ declining health and his subsequent statement.

The golf community is disappointed with Woods’ present state

One of the fans wrote, “We’ll see what happens, but his presence is basically ceremonial at this point. I’d love to be wrong!” Not impressed with Woods’ explanation about his renewed energy during training, the fan called his presence only ceremonial. They portrayed that better training would not give him a better chance on the greens. The 48-year-old golfer’s performance this season was not far removed from the fan’s opinion. Woods finished dead last in the 2024 Masters, and for the last two majors, the PGA Championship and the US Open, he did not even make a cut.

Another fan commented, “So he’s cycled off the juice; got it.” Unlike Scott Stallings, who confessed about his Ster**d usage and got subsequently suspended, Woods had no such incidents. His use of PEDs has been mostly a fan conception. The golfer was never suspended or caught being under the influence of any form of PEDs. Neither did Woods affirm the allegations against him. Yet, now that he looks lean, many fans have started speculating that it is because he is not in his usual ster**d cycle.

One fan showed their frustration with words alone. They said, “I’m so tired of the rhetoric. Talk talk talk. It’s just pi** in the wind. Play better or get off the stage. Same boring quotes presser after presser, tournament after tournament, year after year.” The fan firmly believed that whatever Woods was saying was a waste of time. At every press conference, 15x major champion shares about his health updates, and it seems that fans are losing it now. 

Recently, Woods also countered accusations from Colin Montgomerie on the topic of quitting. Although Woods’ last win was at the 2019 Master’s Tournament, unbothered by his streak of missed cuts, the golfer declared he still could win championships. 

Someone else said, “Hope he’s been on putting practice, seems that’s been his main problem on the course.” Without thinking too much about his physique, a fan talked about the practice. As Woods claimed to be transforming his practice in a way that he has not done in a while, this fan suggested the need for it, especially after what happened at his last two majors. They deemed practice to be the main problem that was keeping Woods from winning on the course.

“And exactly who cares?” said yet another fan. Being extremely harsh towards Tiger Woods, the fan hinted at the irrelevancy of the 15-time major winner at present. Whether Tiger Woods’s popularity is truly getting a hit or not can be traced to such remarks from the fans.

What do you think is the reason behind Tiger Woods getting leaner than before? Let us know in the comments below.