Sunday 20 July 2014 15:26, UK
Tiger Woods insists he is still in a rehabilitation phase after completing his Open Championship with a round of 75 on Sunday.
The winner of 14 majors is still well short of his best in only his second appearance after back surgery, although he had insisted pre-tournament that he was at Royal Liverpool to win and hinted that was a possibility after an opening 69.
But after finishing the tournament on six over par, he said: "I've got more game time under my belt. Obviously there's a lot of things I need to work on but I haven't been able to work on a lot.
"I was down for three months so I'm just now starting to come back. I'm still building. I'm still working on my game and I'm still getting stronger and faster."
Some have questioned whether Woods has returned too early from his lay-off but he feels he is on track with his and his medical team's expectations.
"I was certainly expecting it (to be rusty). I just thought 'I know how to play links golf, I know how to grind it on these golf courses', and hitting the shots I thought I could get around here.
"I did the first day. After a bad start I got it back and unfortunately I made too many mistakes with the doubles and triples.
"The fact I was able to play a few weeks ahead of time and I'm only getting stronger and faster, which is great.
I was down for three months so I'm just now starting to come back. I'm still building. I'm still working on my game and I'm still getting stronger and faster.
"I think we did the smart thing by not playing too much leading into this event, we just wanted to assess how my back was and where I need to strengthen, how I need to go about it, how to gain my explosiveness again, and all that's come along."
His 75 on Sunday extended his run of no sub-70 weekend rounds at majors which stretches back to the 2011 Masters.
