Tiger’s The Barclays press conference: Saturday
Q: When you finish a round like that, where you hit all the greens– but you still score, what does that mean to you?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I hung in there. I got off to a great start in yesterday’s second round. As I said yesterday, I lost it in the middle but started to get it back at the end and I got one today, which was nice. Now I’m resting up right now, I’m only five back.
Q: Encouraging to know that it wasn’t the neatest round but you still–
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, wasn’t the best part of– the middle part of the round certainly was not the best ball-striking for sure. As I say, I cleaned it up towards the end, and this afternoon is going to be a tough afternoon. It’s going to be windy and blustery and it’s going to be tough.
Q: You’ve seen the conditions already. Do you have a target number already going into the afternoon?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, definitely. I’m not telling you, but yes, I do.
Q: Looked like the back felt better this morning, I assume that’s treatment?
TIGER WOODS: All good.
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, just hung in there and that was a grind. I got off to a sweet start. Stuffed it at the first and gave two right back at 3 and 4 and kind of just hung around, hung around, hung around, and had a nice finish. Birdied three of the last four.
Q: How is it, when the back is obviously not 100 percent, what are the things you do to compensate? Do you go to a certain shot shape?
TIGER WOODS: You know what, whatever that shot shape is, some days it’s a big, roping draw and other days it’s a slap slice. You just figure out something to get it around, and I did. I figured out some shots that I knew I could play today, and just relied on my putter.
Unfortunately I had two 3-putts, but other than that, I felt like I really putted well and made my share of putts.
Q: Looked like the hardest part was top get the ball out of the hole and the tee out of the ground.
TIGER WOODS: Boy, you’re not lying. Yeah, I’m glad that’s done for the day. I told Joey to meet me at the range.
Q: What are you going to do in terms of treatment?
TIGER WOODS: Same thing I’ve been doing every night.
Q: What’s your frame of mind going into tomorrow?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I’m four back, and hopefully that number stays right about there and doesn’t get to five or six. They got some easier holes coming in. Obviously 16 is playing short and 18 is playing really short. So there’s some good birdie holes coming in.
Q: Is it your neck or your back?
TIGER WOODS: More my back.
Q: Considering where you were after the 3-putt at 7, and considering how you feel, this you must feel pretty good about how you came in.
TIGER WOODS: I hung in there. It’s golf. You just kind of grind it out. It’s a long day.
And I was alluding to this morning, it was going to be a tough day. I wasn’t referring to what I had to deal with today; I was kind of referring to the conditions.
But I figured a number in the mid 60s was certainly doable. Kev went out there and he got it, he shot the low one. It was certainly out there. The greens are perfect. And with it being a little windy– but still, the fairways are fast and you can get the ball way down there; if you’re feeling pretty good and pretty frisky, you can drive it all the way down there where you have a lot of wedges in there.
Q: I assume you don’t want to get into it, but can you explain physically where you are compared to the last couple of days?
TIGER WOODS: It starts off great every day, and then it progressively deteriorates as the day goes on. Hopefully tomorrow it will be one of those days again and fight through it and see if I can win a tournament.
Q: You only have 18 holes to play tomorrow.
TIGER WOODS: Exactly, that’s nice. It’s a lot easier than today was.
Q: Do you have any disk problems or do you think it’s just isolated from having some bad sleeps?
TIGER WOODS: I think it’s isolated. I mean, it starts off– once you start off with it and then you keep playing on it, practicing, warming up, I’m loading it pretty good. It’s not like I go out there and puff it around. I kind of go at it a little bit.
Q: So when you got here, that’s when you first felt it? Last week you were fine?
TIGER WOODS: Last week I was fine.
Q: You finished up the morning round, it was pretty good?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, as I said, it’s more, the day goes on. It started off great today. Even this afternoon, it was fantastic, and then it kind of went.
