WATCH: Tiger Woods snubs kids asking for autographs at The Open

This gets more and more brutal with every watch

Tiger Woods is in the zone, ladies and gents. Nothing, on this evidence at least, can break his focus on his first Open in three years – not even the pleas of a group of autograph-hunting children.

Shortly before the 42-year-old teed off on a practice round at Carnoustie, he was seen walking straight through the middle of a group of kids, seemingly blanking each and every one of them.

This is absolutely tremendous from Tiger Woods. pic.twitter.com/ou0c8AYTxX

— Si Lloyd (@SmnLlyd5) July 19, 2018

Harsh, some might think; others may point out this is a professional sportsman concentrating on his job.

And being totally fair to Tiger, he did stop to sign autographs for children shortly before the footage was taken – as the tweets below make clear.

This was him just before pic.twitter.com/ZC6pKpAZGq

— Phil Hume (@philhume) July 19, 2018

pic.twitter.com/llXr2Eu3vk

— Phil Hume (@philhume) July 19, 2018

Woods, whose not won a major for a decade, made par during his first round at Carnoustie. This came after concerns about his neck – he was seen sporting two strips of black kinesiology tape before teeing off. Speaking afterwards, he played down its significance.

“It was a hell of a lot better than my back hurting,” he joked. “I’ve been taped up, bandaged up – it’s just that you were able to see this one. It’s no big deal. Just gotta play.”