Tiger Woods has given an unusually personal insight into his life, and his eating habits in particular. Staggeringly, he eats SEVEN meals per day.
The 14-time major champion, 43, tees it up at the prestigious World Golf Championship event in Mexico this week and, during a taxi ride back to his hotel, he explained to GOLFTV why he has a rather unusual diet.
Looking relaxed and unguarded – a rare sight with the notoriously private Woods – he joked that he was ‘hangry’ and told presenter Henni Zuel that he eats during the middle of the night – and that his favourite meal was ‘steak and potatoes’.
Asked what he gets up to back at the hotel, Woods (clearly not wearing a seatbelt) said: ‘I’m starving! I’m not really home right now. I am (hangry). I ate right before I got worked on but for some reason – I don’t know what it is with this altitude – I’m starving. I’ve been eating so much food and I’m just so hungry all the time. I’m bowling through food in the (golf) bag, and then at the hotel I’m famished all the time. I eat in the middle of the night. I’m just always hungry!
‘If I’m at home then I eat five to seven meals in a day. I’m always hungry. I struggle with keeping my weight up so if I don’t eat enough then I typically lose weight very quickly.
‘My favourite is steak and potatoes. Just like my dad, steak and potatoes, little bit of black pepper.’
Woods has confounded expectations to battle back from years of serious back injury to compete at the highest level again, thanks to spinal fusion surgery.
Despite winning the Tour Championship – his 80th victory on the PGA Tour – last September and coming close in both The Open and the USPGA, Woods must still carefully manage his body as he enters his mid-forties and with a history of multiple significant injuries. The food he eats is a key part of that process.
‘I’ve become way more strict since I’ve tried to come back and start playing again,’ added Woods. ‘Just trying to keep inflammation down, trying to stay fit as possible. It sucks getting older!’
Woods, who plays his first two rounds this week alongside world No 5 Bryson DeChambeau and Abraham Ancer, the only Mexican in the field, also gave an insight into how he continues to work while back at the hotel.
Because of the altitude in Mexico City, his ball will travel roughly 10 per cent further than usual this week at Club de Golf Chapultepec.
‘I’m going to study the yardage book a little bit, trying to figure out a game plan,’ he said. ‘We were surprised by some of the distances today so I’m going to think about that. It’s missing the ball in the correct spots and trying to give myself the best angles cause these putts and some of the up-and-downs are brutal.’
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Finally, as the car approached the hotel, Woods let his guard down even more and, with clear excitement, exclaimed: ‘We’re here… food time!’