Nick Faldo has all but written off Tiger Woods as a contender at this month’s British Open, concluding that the 14-times major champion’s swing is still faltering under pressure.

Faldo, whose six major titles included a five-stroke romp at St Andrews in 1990, made the observation as Woods battled to a mediocre one-over 71 in the third round at the Greenbrier Classic on Saturday.

Although Woods showed some improvement yesterday, finishing with a final round of three-under-par 67, he has also hit some wild drives over the course of the week, usually to the right on holes that require an accurate tee shot to avoid big trouble.

“When Tiger is under pressure, [his swing] is a completely different speed,” Faldo said. “There are plenty of pressure tee shots at St Andrews to avoid the gorse and put it in the right places.

“Under pressure he doesn’t like certain shots and he’s unable to deal with them. That is the mind game. Puts him under pressure and then the tempo is completely different.” Woods (39) has won two British Opens at St Andrews, in 2000 and 2005.

But he has not won a major since 2008 and only four weeks ago shot the worst score of his career, an 85 in the third round at the Memorial tournament.

Several strokes behind

After missing the cut by a wide margin at the US Open, he has shown glimpses of his old self this week in West Virginia but was still set to finish several strokes behind the leaders who included Russell Henley, Bryce Molder and David Lingmerth.

The improvement, however, was clearly not enough to impress Faldo, who also said Woods was dipping his head way too far on the downswing.

“The head loss of height is unbelievable,” said the Englishman, who enjoyed his greatest success after rebuilding his swing in the middle of his career.