Tiger’s Quicken Loans National press conference: Thursday
Q: How were you able to turn it around?
TIGER WOODS: Patience. I didn’t get off to a very good start, 3-over at after 4 is not very good. Still had three par-5s left. Lot of easy holes out there if I can play a little bit better. Try to get to even par at the turn. Came close but then got it going after that.
Q: Tiger, how do you not sit there and think, “Hey,here we go again”? Had a tough time starting.
TIGER WOODS: I’ve been playing well, hitting the golf ball well. Feel like my putting has been good. Just stay patient, just stay with it and it will turn if I stay patient, which I did and I mean I had a run there.
Q: You said in your press conference you used tobe able to turn what would be a 73 or 74 into a 70. Is this one of those days something you were looking for?
TIGER WOODS: Yup, this is one of those days.
Q: How much confidence does it give you to dothat, that you haven’t been able to do it this year or very little of it?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah. The last time I did it is probably Augusta, the last time I did it. That’s what scoring is all about. You got to score and I made a lot of key putts today. I ran them by the hole but I made all the comebacks and overall I felt like I hit the ball well enough to turn it around. It was nice to actually turn it around.
Q: Looked like you were working your driver both directions when you hit it the way you wanted to. One ball flight you like better than the other or can you do both?
TIGER WOODS: I can do both. That’s the nice part of it. I felt comfortable hitting it either way. Same thing this with my irons. I had a lot of speed today, which was nice.
Q: Was this sort of the most comfortable you’ve felt with your swing?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah. I have to say, you know, the last round of the Greenbrier was pretty good. I didn’t really miss a shot that day. This was close, this was really close, excluding the start.
Q: The old-timers today with Retief, Ernie and Justin Leonard.
TIGER WOODS: How about that? The Presidents Cup team in 2000. 15 years ago. Hard to believe we were
all here back then.
Q: Chris Como is not here this week. Can you address that? Are you two still working together?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah. Is there a problem?
Q: No.
TIGER WOODS: Okay.
Q: Is there anything in particular during the start that you would fix in your swing?
TIGER WOODS: No, I didn’t do anything different. I said stay patient and it will turn, which I did. I turned it around.
Q: You said you hit a lot of good irons and that was sort of the issue at St. Andrews. What’s changed? What did you work on, something specific?
TIGER WOODS: We worked on a little bit of my through swing, fixed a couple things I felt like were off and put it to good use the last few — about the last six days. I really felt comfortable here. I’m hitting shots. I’ve played three practice rounds out here which I normally don’t do. It was important for me to get out here and play because everything in West Palm is closed. Everything is being torn up. It was nice to come here and play.
Q: Is it a bit of a mystery to you what happened out there because it seemed like going in you didn’t have those issues in practice.
TIGER WOODS: Welcome to tournament golf. Things like that happen. You play through it the best you possibly can. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite have it over there.
Q: Can you talk about —
TIGER WOODS: I hit it a lot better today.
Q: Can you talk about the momentum you get from this round?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah. I feel great. After that start, it was tough to turn it around, which I did. I sucked it up and turned it around and posted a good number and, you know, we got the fresh greens tomorrow. Hopefully go out there and post a low one.
Q: This tournament is going to follow the U.S. Open next year and obviously the schedule is a lot different. I don’t know if you’re aware of all the — the Bridgestone is going to be after this, U.S. Open, Bridgestone, only a week in between — between The Open and the PGA. What’s your whole take on the whole thing and how that might go?
TIGER WOODS: It’s going to be interesting for a lot of players to try to figure out what they’re going to do. For me I don’t have to worry about the Olympics right now. So, it’s not really a concern of mine right now. Some of the top players, that is probably a schedule concern. As of right now that’s not the case for me. But, still, it’s going to be interesting to see what players do, how they’re going to pace themselves through this. Don’t forget, on the backside of it we still have Ryder Cup on the backside. So, it’s going to be a lot of big events all in a row with very little rest. It will be interesting to see how the guys pace themselves early in the year, what weeks they might take off, whether it’s in The Playoffs or somewhere else and try and rest up. A lot of Euros have to play their home open. It’s even doubly tough for them depending on the scheduling.