Tiger’s PGA Championship press conference: Thursday
Q. Talk about the day.
TIGER WOODS: Well, I hit it great today, but I made actually nothing. Probably one of the worst putting rounds I’ve had in a very long time. But I hit it good today, so that’s about it.
Q. Speed, line?
TIGER WOODS: I just had no feel at all for the speed. It was awful. My speed was bad, hence speed determines line, so that was off.
Q. Is there a certain distance that you really struggle with on the greens?
TIGER WOODS: Just everything. I just never had the speed right. I either left them short or blew them by. Just didn’t have the speed at all.
Q. When that happens, do you find that you put more pressure on your approach shots, trying to get as close as possible?
TIGER WOODS: Depends on the golf course. On a golf course like this, I don’t think you can do that because it’s so difficult, so penal on the short side. So, did I do that today? No, I didn’t.
I kept with the game plan, I struck it the way I wanted to pretty much all day, and I just never got a putt, I don’t think I made one putt all day.
Q. When you have that gap between how you’re hitting it and you’re scoring it and you walk off the course, what’s that like?
TIGER WOODS: Good news is I had complete control of the golf ball even with these conditions as they got tougher, I was able to control it. But I don’t know, I just never felt like I had the speed right.
Even I if I dumped the ball center of the green or I had some makeable putts straight up the gut, they still were off. They were either getting chewed up by the green or I was blowing them through. So I definitely need to somehow find the speed better.
Q. (No Microphone.)
TIGER WOODS: Same thing, just work on pace, just get the pace right. As I said, speed determines line, so I kept working on my pace and unfortunately all day I didn’t really have the pace.
Q. (No Microphone.)
TIGER WOODS: It could be. I’m going to work on it right now and find out and see what it is. See if that was the case or not. But, I mean, it definitely — I will hit a few putts for a bit.
Q. I know you work at it and I saw you at Memorial, I think you had 51 putts, so or something there.
TIGER WOODS: Well, it’s just one of those things. It’s golf. We’re going to have days where it’s like this and I’ve had the flip side of it too. But hopefully I can hit the ball as well as I did today, tomorrow and make some putts.
Q. (No Microphone.)
TIGER WOODS: Oh, yeah, on a golf course like this, you would much rather hit the ball well, it’s important. Because if you don’t hit the ball well here, there’s no — there’s really no room for error on a Pete Dye golf course. He gives you plenty of room, but if you miss those spots, it’s going to be awfully penal and this is probably one of the most, probably his most penal golf course outside of the fairways and outside the greens, that he’s designed.
I know Sawgrass initially was pretty difficult, but they softened it over the years. But this one, they haven’t softened at all.
Q. Does this add to the frustration this year of not being able to put it all together?
TIGER WOODS: I’ve had good putting rounds and I had ball striking days on those days and then the flip side of it. So, just got to get a combo right and then have it for three more days.
Q. (No Microphone.)
TIGER WOODS: Season or year? Because the season is pretty much over very soon. But the year’s not. I still can do things overseas, still have our next season is starting up next year, I have my tournament down in the Bahamas. There’s plenty of golf to be played globally. So the season’s, it is what it is, but calendar year I still have a lot of golf left.