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FUNAI GOLF CLASSIC AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

October 18, 2005

Tiger Woods

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

Q. What do you think of people outside of the ropes

TIGER WOODS: I've never been a big fan of that. Watching Zinger get zinged at Doral one year, that was the first time I can remember that ever happening. But unfortunately it's part of the game. And the problem I thought it was, it was a day late with Michelle.

Q. People like you and Michelle are much more high profile and have cameras on them, so it's kind of easier for you guys to get nabbed than the other guys. Do you think it's inequitable for everybody?

TIGER WOODS: Of course it is. It's not equitable for the entire Tour, but you have to understand that, you accept it. That's just the way it is. Michelle is under scrutiny like a lot of guys under the Tour, like the top players out here, we're going to have more camera time, so hence things like that can happen.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: We don't get a chance to do it very often.

Q. Are some of these tournaments placing too much of a premium on length?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, you think? Look at some of the golf courses where we've had from single digits under par, even maybe 10 under par, on the shortest golf courses we play all year. But that's just the way it is. Guys are hitting the ball further, so they try to make the golf course longer. But sometimes you can't always get the weather conditions to cooperate. If you have a short golf course and the fairways aren't back, the rough is not high and the greens are soft, the guys are going to tear it apart.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: More than the length it's the fact that every ball is backing up. Every ball picked up mud today. Every driver is backing up a foot or two, and we have mud on every shot. That's probably the biggest change.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: The biggest thing is we got mud balls all day. That's the hardest thing in the world. You can have length and you can have longer shots on the green, but if you don't have a clean ball, it makes for a very difficult golf shot.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: It is right now. I don't see the fairways drying up that much in the next couple of days. So you're going to have to hit the ball out there, but you'll understand that you're going to get a couple of mud balls and you have to accept it and try to get the ball on the green.

Q. What did you do on your recruiting trip (inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: I don't think he remembers (laughter.)

Q. You're going to be turning 30 soon. Do you think your best golf is ahead of you?

TIGER WOODS: Without a doubt. The changes I've made, the progress I've made this year and how far I have to go. I'm very excited about the future.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: No doubt about that. When I go for a longer run, I don't recover as fast as I used to. I used to bust out six, 10 miles, and get up the next day and do it again. Now I need another day off.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: Took a couple of months, but I got there.

Q. Can you comment on the children's benefit you did at Allworth last week and how important that is to you?

TIGER WOODS: We did it here, here at Disney. Yeah, it's been we've been doing it since '97. We've done a bunch of them, 39, now, across the country. And to have that many kids out here watching and supporting, and learning and growing from all the people, not just me but Dennis Walters, and others who did speeches, I think it's great for everyone.

Q. We hear rumors that you're scouting out places down south to live. Are you going to be here for a while in Orlando?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know, I'm look being at places on the coast, on both coasts. I like I was born next to the ocean, I'd like to live next to the ocean.

Q. I have a little place in Jupiter if you're interested?

TIGER WOODS: Oh, really?

Q. You at the end of the season like this, how do you feel compared to how you feel in the beginning of the year?

TIGER WOODS: You feel the same, because I take breaks all throughout the year. I don't feel any different. I'm just now getting started. I have the Tour Championship, and I go to China, Japan, Grand Slam, Skins and my tournament. People are winding down and I'm picking it up.

Q. Are you motivated at all by the money record that was set by Vijay?

A. No. I like the win record. You try to get as many wins as you possibly can for the year and have more than anybody else in the year, if you're doing that you're doing pretty good.

Q. A lot of high profile athletes are in the news sometimes for all the wrong reasons. How important is it for you to do the right thing, to have everything positive?

TIGER WOODS: Well, you try to live life positively, and you always try and do the right things all the time. It's basically how you're raised. That's how my parents raised me. I'm not doing anything differently than what I've done all my life. So for me to go out there and try and do something not being myself, that's just not me. That's the way my parents raised me to do the best I can every day, help as many people as I possibly can in my lifetime. That hasn't changed. I'm just being who I am.

Q. How is your father?

TIGER WOODS: He's doing better. It's a tough go, obviously this entire year. But he's doing better.

Q. (Inaudible.) Does that appeal to you at all? Does that mean you play more?

TIGER WOODS: The prospects of playing more, certainly, yes, because we kind of have to. If you want to have a chance of the playoff system, especially toward the end of the year, with the playoff system being four in a row, like that. We have the PGA and the NEC and a bunch of tournaments right at the end of the year, you've got a lot of tournaments you're going to have to play. Especially if you're playing well you're going to have to play them all.

Q. With the understanding if you get the Player of the Year, those types of trophies, you have to rack up the points?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I don't know how much (inaudible), once you start the playoff system, that's something they're still trying to figure out. You could have won 13 tournaments, but going into the playoff system, they could you could still lose the Player of the Year award. I don't know exactly what they're going to try to do. They're still working out the details on that.

Q. Have they had a point system in the past called the Money Winner?

TIGER WOODS: They're trying to have the perception not to be about money. You don't have have any idea how much money guys are making in NASCAR or Formula 1 or anything like that. But you do have an idea what we're making out here all the time. So they've got away from the money into the points, and they're trying to do the same thing on the PGA TOUR.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: They'll do some tournaments that unfortunately we'll be gone. And that's just unfortunate, because there are so many great venues, and you raise so many money for charities in the other events. But they are trying to produce the best product they possibly can for TV in a very difficult marketplace right now. It's hard to get TV time. And golf in the fall, we can't compete against a lot of the big sports; major league baseball is going on right now, and then football, we can't compete.

Q. What are you going to do with three months what's Vijay going to do with three months?

TIGER WOODS: That's even more the question. For me it's great. I'll go skiing and do other things, I've got other things to do. Plus you could always play overseas; Asia, Japan is still going on, Australia is still kicking up, South Africa is still going on. You have other places to play.

Q. Do you think sometimes people know too much about the people they root for the and celebrities they follow?

TIGER WOODS: I think it's just the nature of celebrity right now, the nature of the media, because there's so many different outlets now, so many ways to get information that people are looking for more information. So in order to be unique and promote your own product, you're going to have to have something unique. So you have more media and more ways to create a demand. That's the way it is.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I've known him since we were about 12. We met and played in the Junior World, and then played in the Big I in Texarkana, Arkansas, and we talked a bunch there, and we basically hit it off and we've been great friends ever since.

Q. Is it the exact same putter?

TIGER WOODS: I've played every single round on Tour, every single round with that putter.

Q. Some guys out here are changing every week?

TIGER WOODS: I've never been one to change a lot, if you look at my career. Look at my career, it takes me a while to put something in play.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: Close as you can get an answer to.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: I have a ton of those.

Q. I see you trying other stuff, hybrids out here, I never see you trying putters on the golf course.

TIGER WOODS: I do, I'm always trying to find a backup. Scotty has made me probably over 50 putters and they're not the same. They're not the same as that one. You just find one. It's just amazing, it's like a fingerprint, they're not identical. Hopefully you can get something that's as close as you possibly can in case something happens to your putter.

Q. (Inaudible.) How much of that is just between the ears? It's not the same, it's not the same

TIGER WOODS: Technology helps. There are certain putters that are more technologically advanced than mine and probably roll the ball better. But they haven't won nine majors, either.

Q. How many times do you change the grip?

TIGER WOODS: I'll probably change it once a year.

Q. What would you do if you lost it or someone threw it in the lake or your clubs got stolen?

TIGER WOODS: I have backups, I have alternates.

Q. Do you have a backup that's fairly analogous to it?

TIGER WOODS: He's made me over 50 putters.

Q. How many tournament wins with that, 50 million bucks or something?

TIGER WOODS: I won the one next week in Germany with it.

Q. No change imminent?

TIGER WOODS: No. There's certain putters I probably roll the ball better with, look at the computer, screen, cameras, I probably roll the ball better with it, but when push comes to shove and I have to make a putt, I know I can make the putt with this putter. I've made putts with it, and that's the difference. And I've won I've made huge putts when I absolutely needed them. And there's no substitute for that type of confidence. You can step up and say, hey, I have a big putt, I know I've done this before with this thing.

Q. (Inaudible.) How tough has that been on you?

TIGER WOODS: It hasn't just been tough on me, it's been tough on the entire family. The things he's gone through and had to go through the past few years, it's been very difficult. It hasn't been easy for anybody. But he's as tough as they come. If anyone can handle it he's been unbelievable, to deal with the things he's had to deal with and still be around.

Q. Did he make it out Saturday?

TIGER WOODS: He can't travel that much.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: Everywhere.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I have at my mom's house, yes, back in California.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: My dog? She's probably two and a half years old now. She's part Boxer and part something else, we got her from the pound. She's unbelievable.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: First dog I can honestly say I can't outrun her.

Q. Any plans for kids?

TIGER WOODS: In the future.

Q. Is the little woman around this week with your two house guests or has she been kicked out for bachelor pad purposes?

TIGER WOODS: She actually went to see her sister.

End of FastScripts.

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