Tiger’s U.S. Open press conference: Sunday
Q: Thursday and Friday you looked like your vintage self and yet this weekend you struggled. What do you attribute it to?
TIGER WOODS: Yesterday I was just a touch off. As I explained to you yesterday, I just happened to get those half clubs all day. Never got the speed of the greens yesterday as well.
But today was different. I felt great on the greens, had the perfect speed all day and unfortunately just got off to such an awful start. And tried coming in, but I was too far out.
Q: Your back nine was great. But the front nine really was tough?
TIGER WOODS: The first six, I just didn’t play well at all. I just could never get anything going positively and I missed the ball in the wrong side a couple times and that’s all it takes.
Q: What do you take away from the week?
TIGER WOODS: There’s a lot of positives this week. Hit the ball really well. Unfortunately I just didn’t have the speed of the greens until today.
But overall I’m — the way I struck the golf ball, the way I controlled it all week is something that’s very positive going forward and if I just would have just hung in there little bit better yesterday and missed it on the correct side a couple times then I would have been in a better position going into today.
Q: As well as you’ve been striking the ball was, when you look at it now were Thursday and Friday a little bit of a tease because you got a taste of being where you are used to being and whatnot and just not being able to close it. Was it a little bit of a tease for you?
TIGER WOODS: I wouldn’t look at it like that at all. I hit the ball very well the first two days, and as I said yesterday I was just a fraction off just a couple yards here and there and that’s all it takes. I had so many balls that landed in the fairway that went into the rough.
But if they were just shaped maybe another yard or two they would have held and been in the first cut. That makes a big difference going into these greens and especially as firm as they got yesterday, they’re not as firm today, obviously with some marine layer coming in, but yesterday it was close.
Q: Is how you played on Thursday and Friday — do you consider that you have reached the goal with what you and Shaun were working on. Is that the goal that we saw right there?
TIGER WOODS: I’m excited about the consistency of it. How well I hit the ball all week, really. I didn’t really miss it that badly this week. The misses were just a fraction off, which is great. That’s what we want to have happen. And this golf course is just so demanding that a fraction off you pay a price.
Q: Tiger as difficult as the first six holes are, how does that get into your head throughout this tournament?
TIGER WOODS: It’s tough starting out, you know that if you can play them even par for the week you’re going to pick up a bunch of shots. Not too many guys I think are going to be at even par for the week those first six holes.
But today was interesting. They made it pretty easy coming in, starting at 14. They moved the tee up at 14 so you could turn it around the corner and drive it down to the bottom. 15’s pretty accessible pin, and 16’s weird. I mean, Casey and I were talking about that today. We never heard all week from the USGA that they were going to move the tee up there.
They said it was going to be 602 and 675 and we come out there today and it’s 575. And I thought I swiped it off the tee and end up in the fairway and Casey hit his shot and he was a little angry at himself that he hit it in the left rough and it was right down the middle of the fairway. So it’s an interesting setup there.
Q: What did you hit on the third tee for that tee shot at 3 that led to the double?
TIGER WOODS: I hit 6-iron.
Q: Can you talk about the rest of that hole. Things really went south there?
TIGER WOODS: I had a bad lie and couldn’t go after the flag. I was trying to put the ball 15 feet left of the hole and I bottomed out too much on that slope and then just shot it out over the green.
Q: When you look back at this week will you look back as this as an opportunity that got away from you?
TIGER WOODS: Boy, you could say that of a lot of tournaments, can’t you?
Q: But this is a U.S. Open.
TIGER WOODS: Well, you can say that about a lot of tournaments. Finished close in Major Championships before, so I had a chance this week and I’ll get after it in another week at in DC.
