O'Meara extends offer to pal Woods to 'come hang out with me' for a while

Mark O'Meara believes it would do Tiger Woods good to chill out with him.

The 54-year-old was one of Woods' closest confidants when he first turned professional, but now plays most of his golf on the Champions Tour.

O'Meara is competing at the Players Championship this week, though, and was greatly saddened by the sight of the former world No. 1 limping out after nine holes on Thursday.

What advice would he give Woods?

"Come and hang out with me for a while,” said O’Meara, who won  both the Masters and British Open in 1998. "That's what my advice would be, but he doesn't ask. I've thrown it out there.

"We go way back -- we've spent a lot of quality time together. I believe when you're struggling it's good to be around your friends and people who really care about you,” he added. "I feel like I'm a true friend to Tiger and I want to help him, but he's got to want to come and do it too.

Woods has been "struggling with this Achilles (problem) for quite a while now. He needs to get that either fixed or figure out what he needs to do to get it 100 percent,” said O’Meara, who played nine holes with Woods on Wednesday.

"I thought I saw some good signs of the way he was hitting the ball, but I did see him limping around out there,” he revealed. "Even after dinner when he was walking to his car, he looked like was limping a little bit. He said it was okay, but he always goes with that.

"I care about him. I wish the best for him. I think the game needs him,” said O’Meara. "We all want to see him back playing the way we know he can play. And I certainly think that's what he wants, too."