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THE 147TH OPEN

July 21, 2018

Tiger Woods

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

Q. How fun was that?
TIGER WOODS: That was good. That was good. I played well today. I really did. I hit a lot of good shots. I really didn't feel like I really made a bad swing until 18. I really felt like I had control of the golf ball today. And on top of that, I made some longer putts, which was nice.

I was telling the guys earlier, before we teed off, there were a lot of guys 3- to 5-under par through 14 holes.

A couple of guys got to 7-under par, either through the finish -- like Rosie, or I think Chris wood was at 7-under par at one point. So there were a bunch of guys that were putting up great scores, and the golf course was gettable.

I didn't want to be too far back if the guys got to 10-under par today. I had to stay within reach. And 5 is definitely within reach.

Q. You talk often about your feels. When was the last time you felt like this in a major?
TIGER WOODS: In a major? I haven't played too many. It's been a few years since I've felt like this. I played pretty similar to this at the PLAYERS Championship. Obviously, the fifth major, possibly, but not like this in one of these big four events.

Q. Did you begin the day wanting to hit as many drivers as you did?
TIGER WOODS: We did. Just thought that, with some of the pin locations, that we could, if we missed on the correct side, that we could still have easy shots into the greens today. I happened to pipe -- a couple of them went for -- piped a nice one down 10, 11. I kind of cut one there on 14 to try to keep it in play. But I really hit some good shots out there today.

Q. Tiger, can you talk about the importance of 18 and getting yourself (inaudible).
TIGER WOODS: That was big for me just to not finish with two bogeys on the last three holes, playing as well as I did. As I said, I really didn't hit a bad shot until 18. I lay up, which is perfect, up the left side, so I had an angle at that flag, only had 83 yards. I figured just this nice little one like I practised in the backyard, and I hit my number.

Q. Did you see how close 16 was to being (inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: I saw it up there when I was on the tee box, and then I went around to Joey and had drifted off. Yeah, that's the way it goes. But I hit two bad putts in a row. That's just the way it goes.

Q. Tiger, tonight will you give more attention to how far you're behind or how many people are front of you or this and that?
TIGER WOODS: It would be nice if there weren't a lot of guys between myself and the lead, but not the way this golf course was going to set up. We knew there were going to be 10, 12 guys with a chance to win on Sunday, and it's turning out to be that.

Like I said, I didn't want to be too far back if the guys got to 10 today. 5 is certainly doable, and especially if we get the forecast tomorrow.

Q. Just being Tiger going into the major, what's it like to be in the middle of that atmosphere, that electric atmosphere that you create?
TIGER WOODS: I didn't know I was tied for the lead. I know I was within one. But I was right there. After I birdied 14, I still had some work to do. I've got four more holes to go. I was just concentrating on trying to play the last four holes under par. As I said, not to try and let these guys get too far out of reach if they got to double digits.

Q. Tiger, you were actually top of the leaderboard for about a 20-minute spell. I know it's tomorrow that counts, but given how hard you fought to get back to this, does that mean anything at all to you?
TIGER WOODS: It would be, as you said, better on Sunday, but I'm right there. I've got a chance at this, which is great.

Q. But does that show it's possible at least?
TIGER WOODS: It certainly is possible. I've shown that I've been there close enough with a chance to win this year. Given what happened last few years, I didn't know if that would ever happen again, but here I am with a chance coming Sunday in a major championship. It's going to be fun.

Q. Tiger, you had a lot of long, long lag putts you had to throw up there -- 6, 14, I think, a couple of others. How do you feel about that part now especially given how much you put into that with a new putter and your putting concerns of several weeks ago?
TIGER WOODS: I hit so many good putts out there today, and this week from distance, I've had really good feels. Even as this golf course was changing and evolving, I've maintained my feels with the putter. I've made a couple of putts from about 40 to 60 feet, which is nice. I just feel like I've been able to roll the ball.

I hit a few putts that I think should have gone in from 20, 30 feet today. So that's always a good sign.

Q. Is it fair to say you attacked the golf course today as opposed to playing the position that you were more --
TIGER WOODS: Not necessarily. I think it was more just the thought. The pin -- we're still debating whether or not I can take that bunker out of play on 9, and I got lucky. It one-hopped the bunker instead of burying in against the face and pitching out sideways, I have a shot.

10, we've been trying to hit driver down there, and I hadn't hit very good drives down there.

And 11 was the only one that's really a big change, just because we had the wind that they had in the practise round with the guys behind us, two guys knocked it on in the practise round behind us, and if I can cover it, then I can get down there to the front. As we were witnessing yesterday on the telecast, how many guys were blowing it so far right of that fairway and still hitting wedges up there and making putts.

So that's pretty much the only thing I've really changed.

Q. Assuming that nobody goes crazy, what's it going to take to win?
TIGER WOODS: Well, we'll find out what the lead is by day's end. At least I know that I will be there with a chance. They won't be too far out of reach. If they get to double digits, I'm still only five back. That's certainly doable with hopefully the weather that comes in tomorrow. If it doesn't come in and we get conditions like this, then we know we're going to have to shoot between 6, 7, 8-under par tomorrow to have a chance.

Q. They have some pretty interesting pins out there, haven't they?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, they were -- the one at 6, I don't know. That was a little bit different. And then the one at 15 was a little bit shocking. It was right in the middle of the green on a hump. Those were two pins that Shaun and I were talking about today, like this is a little bit different.

Q. Tiger, if you were to win this major championship or any other major championship, where would it rank?
TIGER WOODS: We're not there yet. I know what you're trying to say in asking, but let me try and get there first. Then ask me again.

Q. Will you be able to relax tonight, Tiger, considering you haven't been in this position in a few years?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I'll be fine. We have ample time. I'm going to watch the telecast and see what these guys do. See how the golf course is playing. We're supposed to get the same direction of wind tomorrow but stronger. We'll see how these guys play.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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