Woods Set To Try For Victory at U.S. Open

It was another Tiger Tuesday at the U.S. Open. Majors or minors, Tuesdays are the day Tiger Woods almost always does his pre-tournament media session. Nobody during the past 20 years has done more of these things than Woods. A Tiger Tuesday used to be about Sundays. Woods owned Sundays. He owned the majors. He owned golf. But now he rents.

"Sometimes you have to make a shift, and I did," said Woods, referring to what is now the fourth swing change of his career. "And short-term suffering for long-term gain. I've done this before when I've made changes in the past. I've struggled through it. I've come out on the good side."

Nobody in that interview room -- with the exception of Woods himself -- truly thinks he is going to leave Chambers Bay with his fourth U.S. Open trophy and his 15th major victory. And why would you? His swing is ground under repair. He hasn't won a major since 2008 or a tournament since 2013. And the most recent time he played tournament golf, Woods shot his worst 18-hole score as a professional (85), his worst 72-hole total (302) and he finished in last place by 6 strokes.

And yet, when someone asked him Tuesday why he still believes he can win this week, Woods didn't hesitate.

"I've got three of these," he said.

These. Three U.S. Open championships. As if the memory of those majors won in 2008, 2002 and 2000 translates to 2015. This is the way Woods thinks. This is the way he has to think. What, you're expecting him to say, "Bubba Watson's visor has a better chance of winning the Open than me." Or, "I'll be lucky to make the cut." Or, "I hope I break 90."

Like it or not, your reality isn't Woods' reality. You see the meltdown at Memorial, where he played like a guy who might not win the B-flight of his member-member. Woods sees a guy getting ready to take the training wheels off his new swing -- but first he has to fall off the bike.

"Obviously I've got to do it in front of the world, and sometimes it's tough," he said. "I've got to suck it up and do it."

There seems to be no in-between when it comes to Woods. He alienates. He polarizes. He confounds. Or he inspires. He persists. He stays true to his own golf beliefs. Choose your side.