Tiger’s BMW Championship press conference: Sunday
Q: A tough time on the greens today. It was challenging out there, wasn’t it?
TIGER WOODS: Well, those were probably the only two poor putts I hit all day, and they happened to be on the same hole. But I rolled it really well today. Had a lot of lip-outs. Unfortunately the putts just didn’t fall in.
Q: What’s your impression of the whole week, the course, the crowd?
TIGER WOODS: The whole week was incredible. The fans are just absolutely fantastic. They’re excited but they’re respectful, and it’s– they’re out there trying to police themselves. The last couple weeks, especially the first week of the Playoffs, that wasn’t the case. So it was nice to play in front of people who were excited about our sport and wanted to have a great environment.
Q: Under firmer conditions, can this course hold up to a PGA Championship?
TIGER WOODS: We’re always going to shoot low numbers if you have ball in hand. But if it dries out, it might present a totally different challenge. But if it’s like this, this is about the score. We were saying at the beginning of the week it’s going to be near 20, and here it is 20 plus.
Q: You came close even though you didn’t birdie any of your last par-5s. Is that what ultimately could be the difference, the par-5s?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I struggled yesterday at the start, obviously. I was 3-over and got myself back in the tournament. And as I said yesterday, it was going to take about a 63 or 64 today to give myself a chance, and that was the number. With the pins, we saw the dots for today, and it was– it could be done. It could be done. Because the greens were so soft, and if you take care of the par-5s, throw in a couple more, all of a sudden you have your number.
Q: How would you compare this course and the experience of actually playing here?
TIGER WOODS: Well, this is different for a Pete Dye course. We’re not used to seeing it this flat. Sawgrass isn’t like this, Whistling Straits is definitely not like this. He has some very difficult moundy golf courses, and this one is a little bit more tame. The slopes are not as sharp, but they’re a little bit bigger.
Q: Is Rory reminding you of yourself at all with what he’s been doing?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, he’s going out there and is up near the lead and posts a good number. He’s doing the things he needs to do, and as he said yesterday, he’s feeling very confident about his game. Right now he’s just really playing well, and he’s making a ton of putts. That’s a great combo.
Q: What about just for yourself? The last couple of weeks you’ve been close but not close enough. You’re obviously playing pretty well. Where do you put yourself right now?
TIGER WOODS: It’s getting better. It’s getting better. I just need to have that one little stretch of holes that kind of– I guess got to fight through that. That little stretch sometimes take you out of a tournament, especially in a shootout like this. Going 3-over through 8 yesterday, that’s not very good out here, especially most of the guys were 3-under through 8 out here.
Q: The wind was kind of a new element today, kind of squirrelly and tricky.
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it’s swirling all over the place. It’s really tough. It’s not only just– you might have a left-to-right wind, but all of a sudden you might get a right-to-left gust. DJ got it bad a couple times out there. He hit really nice shots that ended up so far off line because he got the wrong gust at the wrong time, it totally switched on him. I had it happen once, so it’s tough out there.
Q: If you could pinpoint one thing, what is your favorite thing about staying here in Indiana or about the course in general?
TIGER WOODS: I think it’s the people here. The people here are just so nice. It’s a treat. It really is a treat to come here and have– as I said, the fans out there were policing themselves. Some guy has a camera and it goes off, and they’re getting on him for that. That’s nice, because it’s not always like that when we play.
