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OMEGA DUBAI LADIES MASTERSDecember 9, 2014Cheyenne WoodsDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES THE MODERATOR: Welcome to Dubai. It's your first time playing in the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Masters, but you just arrived here overnight from the states. How are you feeling? Are you excited to get going in the tournament? CHEYENNE WOODS: I'm really excited. I've always wanted to come to Dubai. So I was really looking forward to this tournament all year. And following last week, I'm still on such a high. It's just really exciting to have played well and earned my LPGA card and finish my year here. THE MODERATOR: I guess you haven't played the course yet. But what have you heard from the other players about this venue? CHEYENNE WOODS: I've heard that the course is always in great shape and that it's fun to play; and I've seen the views on TV and online. I don't know too many specifics about the course design but I just know that it's always a great event. THE MODERATOR: What about your impressions of Dubai so far from what you've seen? CHEYENNE WOODS: It's exactly what I imagined. Everything is over the top. Everything is beautiful, perfect weather. I'm hoping to sightsee a little bit this week. So hopefully I'll get some time for that, but so far, it's great. Q.  Can you just describe the emotions of the past couple of days and the roller coaster of Q‑School and the elation of getting your card? CHEYENNE WOODS: Yeah, Q‑School, it's a unique situation‑‑ I don't know. It's a unique experience to go through, because it is so much‑‑ you invest in this one week. This one week determines a whole year of your career. So it's a lot. It's five days of golf. It's very exhausting, for me at least. But it was exciting. I played well despite one day. I was really happy with my finish. Definitely my goal all year was to get my LPGA card. And then to come here, it's a perfect way to end my year, like I said. But it was such an emotional roller coaster all week, so I'm still kind of recovering from that and still feeling the side effects of it all. Q. Season‑ending event here, but thinking ahead already, how are you now going to reschedule yourself between U.S. events and European Tour events? CHEYENNE WOODS: It is a good position to be in because I have status on both tours. I'm definitely going to start my year down in Australia to defend my title down there for the Australian Masters. It's exciting to be able to have the opportunity to play both tours, the two largest tours in the world. So I'll play a majority in the States, probably at home, and then some of my favourite European Tour events. I had the chance to play all year here last year and made some good friends and was able to see all of the great tournaments they provide for the players. So I'll definitely be able to come back for a few. Q. It's the perfect situation, you can choose where you want to play each week. CHEYENNE WOODS: Yeah, it is. I'm very lucky to be in this opportunity and be able to play where I want to and choose. It's exciting. It's different than I've had for the past two years where I've been kind of trying to scramble and play where I can. Now I have the option and it will be a little bit less stressful. Q. Does getting your LPGA card, is it a bit daunting, obviously being an American, your clear family association with Tiger? CHEYENNE WOODS: Yeah, for me, it's always the dream and always the goal to be home and be able to play professional golf. So to earn my card, it will be nice next year to be closer to home, play more local events, some familiar cities, some familiar states. And then in terms of I guess the family connection, I feel like most people are well aware and are kind of‑‑ I don't know. I feel like everyone's kind of moving past it. I've been out here for a few years now, so I don't know‑‑ (giggles). Q. Would you say having earned your card for next year, in this event, you can relax now that the burden is off you? Do you feel you can play better this week? CHEYENNE WOODS: Yeah, definitely. Q‑School was always in the back of my head all year, especially these past few months building up to it. So to come here knowing that that's in the past now and I've accomplished that, I'm able to play, have fun, enjoy Dubai, enjoy this last week, and hopefully play well. Really, this week is for fun. I just want to play and compete and play well and enjoy the experience here, too. Q. What would you say you've learnt this year? It's been a long journey to get to this point obviously. What are the things you've taken from this year? CHEYENNE WOODS: I would say patience for sure. I started my year off great with a win down in Australia and then from there, it's just kind of been up‑and‑down, nothing too exciting. But, you know, through my whole career, I've always just tried to stay patient, and with timing and with hard work, everything will come in the end. So that's kind of my take on it. It's my second year as a pro and it's had a lot of up‑and‑downs, and so from that, I've just learned, like I said, patience and just you can't ever give up and you always have to believe in the end result, the end goal. So that's what I've always tried to do. Q. Talking about goals, obviously winning a professional event, the Australian Masters would have been a goal; you did that. Getting your LPGA card was a goal; you've done that now. What about your goals for next season, have you already set them for yourself? CHEYENNE WOODS: I haven't. I'll have to re‑evaluate after this tournament and for next year. You know, my goal, I guess as a whole, is always to have a successful career on the LPGA, be a champion, No. 1 in the world. So that's always‑‑ I mean, that's what people come out here to do. You don't come out here to play for second place. No one wants to come out to play to be second. So that's always the goal. Q. Can I ask, what do you make of‑‑ you obviously played a few LET events throughout the season so far. What do you make of the strength of the field here, and obviously a smattering of top‑ranked LPGA players here. What do you make of the field? CHEYENNE WOODS: I know the field here is always very strong. I've talked to a few girls and they always make sure this is an event they come to because of the field and because the event is so great. So it's exciting to be able to compete with this great group of girls. I know it's going to be an exciting week. There's a few other girls who came here from Q‑School that also got their card, a lot of other LPGA and European Tour stars, too, so it's going to be exciting. Q. Besides Tiger and I guess your grandfather, who are your favourite people to play golf with or that you admire? CHEYENNE WOODS: That was when I grew up. CHEYENNE WOODS: That was who I grew up admiring in the golf world would be Grace Park, Annika, Lorena, those three women definitely were the ones that I grew up watching. In terms of who I wanted to play with, I don't know, I love playing with non‑golfers. I love playing with other athletes. So I think it would be fun to play with, you know‑‑ I heard Steph Curry is a great golfer, maybe some actors. But I think that's always fun to get other athletes involved in the game. Q. Do you think you could take Obama in a game? CHEYENNE WOODS: I think I could. I think I could. I'd love to play with President Obama. Q. With talent like Lydia Ko and other players like that, how do you feel now being on the LPGA Tour, how do you feel like you're going to be ranked? CHEYENNE WOODS: Yeah, there's a lot of young girls that are on the LPGA now, Lydia and Minjee and Charley also got their card this past week. So it's exciting. And I guess I'm not as young as them, but there's a lot of young girls out there that make the game exciting and make it fun to watch every week. You never know who is going to be in contention. It's a really strong group of girls on the LPGA right now, so it always keeps it exciting. I don't know how‑‑ I haven't really played with them a lot to really compare and see where I would be against them. But I think it's going to be a great year next year on the LPGA. Q. I was just wondering what the best piece of advice Tiger has given you for your career and how often you're in contact and how often he follows your career? CHEYENNE WOODS: He always kind of follows where I'm playing or how I'm doing if I do something exciting. So it's always good to have his support. But he's always told me just to trust my abilities, trust what you know you're capable of doing, and I think that's huge. Because when you don't believe in yourself, then I don't think you're going to do much in life. That's always No. 1. So I've always kept that in my head. Q. When you say people have moved on from the family connection and you're used to it to a degree, do you think it's a valid‑‑ do you think it's almost a validation, you getting an LPGA card, like you branching out on your own? It's something that you have to earn, you can't get given it. CHEYENNE WOODS: They don't hand those cards out to anybody (laughing). Q. It's not a freebie; you actually had to earn that and you've done it. Is that kind of‑‑ is that the way you see it, you sort of stepping out from underneath the Woods monicker? CHEYENNE WOODS: Yeah, I would say I guess. It's been a long road to get there, two years on‑‑ one year on The European Tour, one year on the mini‑tour, Symetra Tour. So I definitely worked to get there. I went through every possible stage possible to get there. So I would say it's a little bit of a validation just to know that I've earned my stripes I guess to get there. I don't know, it's been a long road, like I said, but feels good to finally have achieved that. Q. In 2012 and 2013, Q‑School didn't go as you wanted to. Was there a time during that period where you thought, am I going to get to this; can I do this? It must make it even sweeter now that you've actually done it. CHEYENNE WOODS: Yeah, the first two years, I did not play well at all at Q‑School. First year I didn't even make it through first stage, and second year I missed the cut at final stage. So it was definitely a disappointment. I was really, really upset with myself about that, but you just have to re‑evaluate where you are and where you need to be, and that's what I did. I knew that eventually I would make it to the LPGA. It was just a matter of what it took to get there. Q. Who picked you up after that? CHEYENNE WOODS: My family, my mom, my dad, my family at home, my friends that I grew up with that have known me since the very beginning of everything; those that have been with me from the beginning and seen the growth and the ups and the downs. They are the ones that keep me‑‑ I guess keep me in a good mood and keep me positive. Q. The family connection is quite clear when you say something like no one is here to finish second. That's a Tiger‑esque thing to say. Do you feel that you have certain traits which he has as a person? Is there like a family connection where you have certain character traits as competitors, athletes and stuff? And when you see him sort of vomiting on the course and going through flu and all this kind of stuff, what do you make of that? Is that just the natural competitiveness of the family generally? CHEYENNE WOODS: I guess so. You've seen Tiger play sick or injured before, and it's just I guess he wants to play and be competitive, I don't know. Only he knows. I think that is the natural mind‑set of an athlete. You want to play no matter what. You see basketball players out there playing injured and sick, and you want to do what you can for the team and for yourself. So it's tough as an athlete because you do want to give 100 percent even if you don't have it. What was the first part of your question? Q. Character traits? CHEYENNE WOODS: I'm not sure. I feel like more people see it from the outside, observing me and observing him. But from my perspective, I don't really notice if there's any similarities. I know a lot of people say we look alike. I know our demeanors might be a little different. He's very, very focused, more intense, where I'm more laid back I think. I'm still focused but I'm very laid back and just chill. I don't know, I guess others from the outside would have a better point of view of that. Q. Ladies golf in general has grown so much in recent years, especially the media coverage of it now. It's always live on TV everywhere now. It wasn't that case ten, 15 years ago. Moving on to the big LPGA Tour, as well, the media commitments for you are going to increase and you're going have to do this every time you tee it up. Are you prepared for all that? CHEYENNE WOODS: Yeah, I am. And I think that growing up with the last name of Woods has prepared me for that. I've been dealing with media since I was ten years old, so having interviews is nothing new to me. And I think that that's been great preparation for this next stage and this next year, so you definitely have to manage your time well. I think that's very important when you're in this world, so that will be something that I work on and will focus on. Q. You talk about validating yourself‑‑ because of your surname, you always have to live up to the expectation, even though you have your card now, do you think expectations will always grow because of your relations? CHEYENNE WOODS: For other people they probably will. But for me, I never compare myself to Tiger or what he's done. I don't feel like I need to validate anything for anybody. It's just me and I'm trying to accomplish my goals and have my own career. This is always what I wanted to do since I was five years old, so I don't really think about what others expect of me, just what I expect of myself, and I don't necessarily compare myself to Tiger or anybody. Q. Do you still have a relationship with the Back9Network, was that media training? You said that it's been a long season and now you're winding down. What are you looking forward to seeing in Dubai that you've heard about? CHEYENNE WOODS: First question was about media? Q. Training or before. CHEYENNE WOODS: I've never had media training. I studied communications in college. That's what I got my degree in, so I was always interested in media broadcasting and journalism, so I did have the relationship with the back nine network and I still work with them today, and that's been fun. Something I definitely want to do in the future. And then the second question, Dubai. I've always wanted to do some‑‑ I really want to go like skydiving or something, but I don't think I'll have a chance this week. I will be going to the Burj to hit golf balls. That will be exciting and really looking forward to that. I'd love to go to the mall. I feel like there's a lot to see here and I wish I could do it all in this week, but we'll see what I can fit in. Q. You obviously have not had a chance to celebrate getting your card. Has that been delayed? What do you plan to do to celebrate? CHEYENNE WOODS: My mom was at home, she was at Q‑School with me last week and flew home, and she's home planning a family get together with my brother and sister‑in‑law, and I think it will just be a family thing once I get home. Q. Are you going to treat yourself to anything, buy anything? CHEYENNE WOODS: No, I've got to save my money (laughter). THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, all the best this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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