Tiger Woods had his worst result for exactly a year when he tied for 20th place at the Western Open on Sunday, but if he was worried about his game less than two weeks before the British Open he didn't show it.

One day after declaring that he was back in business after solving a swing fault on the practice range, Woods struggled in the final round at Cog Hill.

He found sand nine times on his way to a 71 and an eight-under-par 280 total that left him a distant 13 strokes behind winner Scott Hoch, who beat Davis Love by a shot.

"Thank God my putter was good, otherwise I would have struggled to break 80 today," Woods said.

"I didn't hit the ball anywhere near as good as yesterday. For some reason I just didn't carry it over to today."

But it is worth noting that Woods last year sandwiched a tie for 23rd place at the Western Open between runaway victories at the US and British Opens.

Perhaps that was why he seemed unconcerned with his inconsistent form heading to Royal Lytham.

Hoch won't be among the favourites at Lytham, no matter how well he is playing now. He has appeared in the British Open just three times, finishing no better than 68th.