Tiger Woods had a restless flight to Scotland for the 2024 British Open after former President Donald Trump was shot in an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday.
Woods, 48, was flying from Florida on Saturday to head to Troon for this week’s British Open and couldn’t take his eyes off the television coverage of the shooting.
“I didn’t accomplish a lot because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind,” Woods told BBC Sport.
Donald Trump raises his fist after being shot during a rally in Butler, Pa. on July 13, 2024. AP
Tiger Woods during a British Open practice round on July 17, 2024. Getty Images
“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.”
Woods and Trump have a relationship that predates Trump’s presidency, with the two having golfed and dined together.
Trump awarded Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May 2019, a month after Woods’ last major victory at the Masters.
Donald Trump (r.) awards Tiger Woods (l.) the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 6, 2019. REUTERSTrump was struck in the right ear by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, whom Secret Service agents killed after the assassination attempt.
Crooks fired at Trump with an AR-style rifle from the roof of a manufacturing plant about 130 yards away.
Explosive devices were found in Crooks’ car not far from the rally site.
Firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed by Crooks in the shooting.
