Tiger’s AT&T National press conference: Thursday
Q: Did you shoot the highest number you possibly could have shot out there?
TIGER WOODS: I probably wouldn’t say that. It was a pretty good grind out there. Not a lot of low scores on this golf course, especially this afternoon. It was baked out, the ball was springy, and it’s hard to believe that 4-under par is leading.
Q: Congressional has hosted three U.S. Opens prior to this week. Did this feel like a U.S. Open out there today?
TIGER WOODS: It did. It’s certainly, I think, a little retribution for what happened last year. Don’t be mad at me, I didn’t play.
Q: You’re not in charge of course setup this week, are you?
TIGER WOODS: No, absolutely not. I think it’s going to be interesting as the week goes on, as it gets hotter, how this golf course is going to play because it’s going to get baked out, and I don’t think they’re going to be able to put water on it while we’re playing. It’ll be interesting to see how the afternoon guys do over the next three days.
Q: When you play late-early, are there adjustments to be made in that short a time span?
TIGER WOODS: We’ll make a couple tweaks, but I think overall we already have the feel for the golf course. It’ll be probably less windy and the ball won’t be quite going as far. The numbers today were ridiculous how far we were hitting it out there. I think we’re going to have to make a slight adjustment on that.
Q: You hit some good golf shots out there. That part you have to be pleased with.
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, you know, I didn’t hit it that bad today, I just didn’t get a lot out of my round, a couple short game shots on the back nine out of those bunkers, a lot of sand in those bunkers and we have to hit the ball a little bit closer to it, and I didn’t do that, and the club — I stuck too many of them in the ground.
Q: How many shots out there did you look at and say, I can actually get this close as firm as these greens are?
TIGER WOODS: Not many, not many. Even if I had sand wedge in, I fired a little bit away from it. It’s amazing how springy they are. It’s very similar to what we played at Olympic. It’s survival. The ball will bounce as high as it flies on some holes. It’s an adjustment we all have to make.
Q: Do you think there’s a number out there in the morning?
TIGER WOODS: Somebody will be. You can see some of the guys shot some low numbers this morning. There was not a lot of low scores this afternoon. I was just saying to Steve, it’ll be interesting to see what happens, what they do on the weekend, if it’s supposed to be hot again. You can water the greens all you want in the morning, and they’re going to obviously dry out as the day goes on. I don’t see how this course is going to play easier in the afternoon.
Q: We had a U.S. Open here that played like a TOUR event, and now we have a TOUR event that’s Playing like a U.S. Open.
TIGER WOODS: Yeah. We’ve played three U.S. Opens so far this year. We had Bay Hill, obviously Olympic and now one here. A couple shots today, ball is bouncing as high as it flies. It’s an adjustment we have to make.
Q: You like it playing like this?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it’s a great test. You know, I was talking to Nick and Chad today, and they were saying at least during the Open you could get it to land on the green from the rough. They had graduated rough. There’s no graduated rough here this week. If it’s not in the fairway then it’s in the deep stuff. So it’s a different setup. It’s hard and fast, and we have to be careful a lot of times, and when you have an opportunity to be aggressive, better do it.
Q: What are your issues in the sand?
TIGER WOODS: Well, here there’s so much sand in these bunkers. There’s just a lot of sand in them. My 60 is not built for this much sand, not designed for that, designed for less sand, so I have to make an adjustment and hit the ball a little bit closer, make sure I hit a little bit closer to the golf ball, and I just didn’t do it.
Q: How do you like the 11th hole?
TIGER WOODS: The 11th hole, it’s much easier now without the bunkers. We’ve got some room. With the bunkers where they were, you had to hug it up the left side. Here now we can hit it, a little bit more room out there. The fairways are chasing a little bit, and I saw a couple divots, so I’m sure some guys hit 3-wood off that tee with the front pin. They could get down there and have something like an 8-iron in.
Q: I remember you were in that creek or near that creek most days. I think you hit it again there today, but you weren’t happy off the tee.
TIGER WOODS: No, I didn’t, because I was — I was angry at myself because I should have gone probably another three or four feet to the right on the tee box to give myself a different angle because of the shot I was trying to play, but I thought if I could straighten it out a little bit, I could hit a hot one up there instead of firing more into the bank. So I was more mad at myself that I didn’t give myself the correct angle.
Q: Did you end up in a divot?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it was a good divot, too. I was thinking about hitting a little 9-iron in there and trying to land it halfway there and run it, and I took a chance and hit sand wedge and landed it short of the green and tried to skip it with some spin on it.
Q: Do you give suggestions on the setup?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I would like — starting — before the tournament starts as we’re building it into a tournament. But once the tournament week begins, I can’t because I’m a player and competitor, so that’s kind of out the window.
Q: (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: I have not. I’ve seen him around, but I haven’t talked to him, no. I just haven’t seen him.
Q: How would you evaluate your short game based on last week?
TIGER WOODS: Well, today was actually pretty good. The only thing, I just had a couple bad bunker shots. But otherwise it was actually pretty good. I had to get up and down quite a bit today.
