U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

May 12, 2003

Tiger Woods

Q. Let me start by just asking you with three Junior trophies sitting there, three Amateur trophies sitting there, two of the last four U.S. Open trophies, do you think you have room for just one or two more? And what does it mean to win a major title?

TIGER WOODS: First of all, there's always plenty of room. The second part of your question is, yeah, I'm excited about the tournament, I'm excited about having a chance and looking forward to giving it a run.

TIGER WOODS: Knowing the fact that it's going to be difficult, you have to understand that you're going to have to be very patient, stay very level-headed, and above all, you have to drive the ball well. You can't drive the ball poorly and win a U.S. Open. It just puts too much of a demand on the rest of your game, so you have to keep the ball in play. And from there, you know, take your chances whenever they present themselves. But you know that par is never going to be a bad score.

TIGER WOODS: Well, that's the whole key is not to make as many -- not to make any mistakes, but you know you're going to make a few. True to eliminate them and the worst score you make is going to be bogey. You just can't make a double-bogey because it makes it so difficult to try to come back, especially on a U.S. Open course, because you know birdies are going to be very few and far between.

TIGER WOODS: All I know is it's in Chicago. (Laughter.) That's it. That's all I know.

TIGER WOODS: Get ready for the U.S. Open. That's one of the beauties of playing professional golf is there are four big tournaments a year; not like Amateur golf, because in Amateur golf there is only one.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I'll play there before the tournament.

TIGER WOODS: Right now I'm getting ready for Germany, and then from there, I know I'm playing Memorial and that might be it.

TIGER WOODS: No Colonial. I'm out.

TIGER WOODS: Surgery has been very good, one of the reasons why I'm not playing that many events. I'm taking easy, I'm taking it real slow this year. I'm probably going to play fewer events than I did last year just to make sure everything is okay. I'm taking more time off and just making sure that everything is all right for the future. I don't want to create any further damage to it. I want to have a good, solid healthy knee, and from there I can pick up my schedule and go about playing my normal schedule.

TIGER WOODS: As of right now, I'm planning, yes.

TIGER WOODS: Nothing to do with the weather, no. Generally when you play a U.S. Open, it's always going to be cooler than it is down here in Florida. So it's nice to get some relief.

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's always difficult to try to make up shots on a difficult course. You can do it progressively throughout rounds, but it's hard to get it back in one round. So you know that you just can't shoot yourself in the foot and put yourself too far behind because it's just too hard to make it up in one round. So you've just got to plod your way along and just don't make any big numbers and big mistakes and drive the ball well and you should be okay.

TIGER WOODS: I always loved playing in Chicago. I've played in the Western Junior and I've played there obviously at the Western Open. I enjoy playing in front of the Chicago fans. They have been awesome. It's been a lot of fun for me. Hopefully I can use that good karma come U.S. Open week.

TIGER WOODS: Well, you know the fairways are going to be narrow. The golf course is going to be long. Generally the greens are going to be hard and fast. The rough will be up. It's really no big surprise. Every U.S. Open course is about the same.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it's going to force everybody to play more defensive. I think that's what a U.S. Open does. If you play aggressively and miss the ball the wrong side, you're going to pay the price, more than likely with a bogey or a double. I think the U.S. Open in general makes you play more conservatively.

TIGER WOODS: The galleries in Chicago certainly didn't tell me that they hit that ball there two weeks ago, like they did at Bethpage. A couple of guys, I hit a shot over there and one guy said "Yeah, two weeks ago, you've got no shot." (Laughter.) They weren't like that at Medinah. (Laughter.)

TIGER WOODS: No, it doesn't, because you just play your own game. Obviously, it's always fun playing with a great player like Ernie. But, you know, he's going to be playing his own game and we're going to be in our own world just because it's such a long event, such a grueling event that you just play your own game and plod your way along. He knows how to win U.S. Opens; he's done it. He's done it twice. I'm sure he'll go out there and play his own game and so will I.

TIGER WOODS: It's the same old thing for me. The club lays down on the way down, I get stuck, my body races out ahead of me and I either have to shape it with my hands or fight it across with my body. It's the same thing, basically work on the plane of my golf swing, work on the extension of my downswing, make sure I've got plenty of whiff (ph) and from there go ahead and make the shot.

TIGER WOODS: I have developed a little bit, but, you know when I first played the U.S. Open, I knew how to play a U.S. Open. I knew how to strategize and put myself from Point A to Point B. But my game didn't allow me to do that. I didn't drive it very straight and on top of that, my distance control wasn't very good. So you combine those two things, no matter how good you are mentally, if you can't do those two things, you don't have a chance to compete in the U.S. Open.

TIGER WOODS: I think the most important thing when I play is how I always stay in my own rhythm and I'm always focused on what I need to do over each and every shot. You look at most amateurs, they don't give the attention to detail like they should over each and every shot. Their mind tends to wander and starts thinking about a lot of other different things instead of the golf shot itself. If you look at my swing, my rhythm stays about the same, my walking stays the same pace, and so I'm kind of always in my own rhythm.

TIGER WOODS: The second one by far was a lot more difficult. I wasn't playing as well as I did in 2000. I had to rely on different parts of my game to try to bail me out. On top of that, our weather wasn't very good last year. As you know, it was rainy, it was difficult, and then the last day was very windy and it dried out and then it rained again. So we are always adjusting to the different conditions and I think that's what made it even more difficult to do, but everyone still had to deal with it.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I do. I enjoy seeing them play well, especially since those guys you mentioned are friends of mine. So it's always nice to see those guys play well. I think it was huge to watch Freddie win, for him to come back after that many years of not playing to what he knows he can play to, to finally come back and get the job done. It was a lot of fun for me to watch.

TIGER WOODS: I think the U.S. Open setup is wonderful because it puts a premium on ball-striking. And on top of that, it really puts you in a position where you have to think your way around the golf course. It's just not about teeing up a driver and bombs away and hit it as hard as you can and go find it. You've got to really strategize and position your golf ball more so than most tournaments we play in. And there's a reward for doing that. There's a reward for making the good pars. Nowadays, most tournaments, if you don't go out there and shoot 4- or 5-under par a day, you're going to get lapped. I think it's fun when you go out there and you shoot a great round and it's a 69 or a 70, you will go up the board with that number instead of moving down the board. But there's only one thing I would change in the U.S. Open, probably not to have the rough four to six inches around the greens, as close as it is generally. Because if they move the pins three or four steps from the side and you short-side yourself four- to six-inch rough, that's pretty tough.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it's still there. It's still there. It is still there.

TIGER WOODS: I do. Every day, in every round I've played in, I'm always a little bit nervous, and I think that's good because that makes you concentrate a little bit more. It's good to have that little bit of edginess.

TIGER WOODS: I just play my own game. I just play one shot at a time. I know that's a credo we've heard a lot in golf, but I really focus on what I need to get -- what I need to do at that moment in time, and that's it. I block out everything else.

TIGER WOODS: They are certainly longer than when I played amateur golf. But I think a lot of that is technology and the fact that they are working out at an earlier age. When I got to college, we just now started to get into the fitness program. Obviously, it takes a few years to get more developed and have it be more beneficial to your game so it takes awhile. I think when you are finding now is that these kids are stronger, they are bigger, and with this new equipment, they just bomb it. But what you end up finding is that every one of us comes back once we turn pro because you realize there's more of a penalty for missing fairways. You need to keep the ball in play. Hitting the ball all-out all the time isn't going to get the job done. You need to keep the ball in play. I know I've given up quite a bit of distance from when I was an amateur. The longest I ever was when I was probably 18, 19, I was probably the longest I've ever been. Ever since then, I've really tried to keep the ball in play and because of that, I've lost some distance. But my winning total has gone up.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it's more of a media rivalry than anything else. I think when Phil and I talk about it, we cleared the air and it was always said down in San Diego.

TIGER WOODS: I hope I'm not trying to make a comeback. (Laughing).

I think -- hopefully it will be a lot like what LL Cool J says: "You can't call it a comeback; I've been here for years."

TIGER WOODS: The right team won. (Laughter.)

TIGER WOODS: I've always felt that majors are probably going to be the easier tournaments to win, if you're playing well. A lot of the guys will eliminate themselves from the tournament mentally. If they are not swinging the club well, obviously they don't have a chance to win. But if you're swinging the club well, I think a major championship will probably be the easier tournament to win.

TIGER WOODS: Well, you cannot play well and be in contention but you have to -- I think you have to play -- you have to have some stretches where you are playing pretty darned good in order to win. If you don't have that big stretch of holes where you're making some birdies and get yourself in it, then I don't think you have a chance, if you're not on your game.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I've always felt that a big par putt is more of a momentum-builder than it is making a birdie. Always saving a shot, just makes you feel that much better instead of dropping a shot. When you have those 10-foot and in par putts, you have to bury those because you're going to face those the entire week. You're going to hit good shots, end up in the little bad spot and the best you can do is six, eight feet, and you have to make those putts. The winner of the U.S. Open, if you look back throughout history, are the guys who have made more of those putts from ten feet and in than the other guys.

TIGER WOODS: I'm excited. I'm excited about this one. I'm excited about playing the U.S. Open and hopefully contending.

TIGER WOODS: Well, they could do a lot just narrowing the fairways down. You don't have to make a golf course 7,400, 7,500 yards to make it difficult. If you narrowed the fairways down, then you'll see guys not pull out the driver. I think what they want to do now in order for us to use the driver, you have to make the golf course that long. You have to make them 7,400 yards if it's a par 72 in order for guys to be able to ultimately use their driver. Because the equipment has gotten so much better, the ball goes flying forever. You look at everybody, they are working out now and are stronger than they have ever been. So if you combine all those different things, everybody is hitting it that much further.

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. That's a good question. Maybe it's just because a U.S. Open course is difficult.

TIGER WOODS: No, not yet. I've been working on getting ready for Germany.

TIGER WOODS: Oh, without a doubt. I've always had natural length and I've always wanted to try keep the ball more in play. So my equipment is old standard; it's 43 and a half inch driver, X100 steel. So it's not the 45 inches now that everyone tends to use with graphite. I just don't like -- I like hitting the ball further but I want to keep it in play. When you look at most of my rounds when I play, I don't really hit driver that often. It's usually a 3-wood or 2-iron; keep the ball in play. If I can keep the ball in play, I like my chances that week.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I'm not worried about that. I'm actually -- if my practice sessions go well, then there's nothing to worry about.

TIGER WOODS: Actually, I'm still -- when I go up there, I still play against Hogan, Snead, Jack, Arnold. So when I'm out there, I still do the same things. It's the same old guys.

TIGER WOODS: That's one of my biggest accomplishments I've ever had. Winning three USGA Juniors, that's tough to do, because there is an age limit, as you said. You have to do it at age 15 in order to do it. Because there's such a big physical difference from a person who is 14, 15, versus a person 17. Most of the Junior winners are usually 17 because of the physical difference. I was lucky enough to get it done early at age 15.

TIGER WOODS: As far as working with Butch, yeah, I did work with him last week. It's the same thing, just what I described earlier in this press conference is what I need to work on. He just confirmed what I thought and I'm working on it. It's just a matter of doing it. As you guys all know, I'm a great range player. As far as Stevie, when you're out there competing like that, sometimes you do make mistakes. Stevie has made mistakes, I've made mistakes, every player/caddie relationship, they have had mistakes. Unfortunately, we made one on the third hole that really cost us a chance of winning the tournament but I think in the future, we are going to do the same things. We're just going to go out there and focus on what we need to do and hopefully make the right decisions.

TIGER WOODS: Thanks, Craig. I'll see you there.