Tiger’s Quicken Loans National press conference: Wednesday
Q: Your general assessment and how does the back feel?
TIGER WOODS: Generally, it feels good. I hit some loose shots today, but I also hit some really good ones. Back feels great which is a really good sign.
Q: On 18, your second drive —
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, my grip got a little bit weak. That’s one of the reasons I was losing the ball to the right, so just got to strengthen it up. Something that we were working on last week, just tends to creep over there into a weaker position but strengthening it again and start piping it again.
Q: Can you talk about letting Anthony putt out on 17?
TIGER WOODS: That was cool. That was really cool. He’s been here a couple times as honorary starter. He’s going to be here on Sunday. Tomorrow afternoon I won’t see him unfortunately, but he does a great job on the first tee. Put it this way; he’ll get your attention, which is great. But he’s left-handed.
Q: That’s what he said.
TIGER WOODS: So I just said, flip it over, go on the other side and putt it, but he didn’t do it. Tried to putt it right-handed and miss it.
Q: Your thoughts going into tomorrow?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I tee off on the same side about the same time, so it will be the same conditions. I don’t know if we are going to get any overnight rain or if it will be any softer, but the course is drying out pretty good. The ball started running — this morning the ball wasn’t going anywhere. The course was playing really long, and we’ll see how it plays tomorrow.
Q: Between now and when you tee off tomorrow, what do you do physio-wise?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I have my physio here. I’ll do treatment and also a couple functions I need to go to, so we’ll kind of plan around those.
Q: The second shot out of 18 below the rough, was that a relief or litmus test that you feel comfortable going after those shots you talked about?
TIGER WOODS: Not really, because I tried it out last week, and didn’t have any problem hitting shots off uneven lies. That was a shot I actually had already tested.
Q: For tomorrow —
TIGER WOODS: A little bit rusty but really manage my way around this golf course — this golf course is playing tough. The guys aren’t going to go really low here. Just got to keep it in front of me and obviously put the ball in the right spots on these greens because if you’re in the wrong spots, it’s an unfortunately tough task to make birdies.
