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THE 147TH OPEN

July 22, 2018

Tiger Woods

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

Q. Tiger Woods, the range of emotions right now?
TIGER WOODS: A little ticked off at myself for sure. I had a chance starting that back nine to do something, and I didn't do it. I thought today, starting out the day, I saw that Jason played a beautiful round early. Brooksy played another solid round today. And I thought that -- I thought 9 would be the number. There are three guys at 9. I thought one of those guys would shoot even par. I thought it was tough out there, but I figured I needed to go get that number so far.

Next thing, lo and behold, I'm tied for the lead, and then I'm leading it. Unfortunately, I hit a bad 3 iron off the tee there at 10. Grass grabbed my shaft again and hit it left. I made a couple mistakes around the green. And same thing at 12. The grass grabbed the shaft this time and turned it open and made bogey there.

Q. Tiger, looking back, other than the execution at 11, 12, is there anything you could have done differently or would have done differently?
TIGER WOODS: No. Today I did everything the way I thought I needed to do it to win the championship. This entire week, I felt like I needed to keep building my way into this championship. It's one of those where, as I said earlier in the week, it's going to be 10, 12 guys with a chance to win it on Sunday because we're all driving the same areas. Kind of turned out that way. There are a bunch of guys packed, a bunch of guys with a chance to win, and I was one of them.

Q. Tiger, you saved par on 8, 9, and 10 out of the sand. How did you feel coming out of that?
TIGER WOODS: No, I felt great. To not drop a shot there after being in three bad spots -- the one on 8's not a bad spot. The one on 9 was not a very good shot in there, to hit a 6 iron in the right bunker, and then tugged my tee shot there at 10. At the time I thought that was the tournament. Either I hit the shot and it clears the burn, or I hit it right next to my feet. I've got to try and pull it off. I stepped on it and pulled it off.

Q. Tiger, in the big picture, how much fun was it to be back in the mix?
TIGER WOODS: Oh, it was a blast. I was saying earlier that I need to try and keep it in perspective because, the beginning of the year, if they'd have said you're playing The Open Championship, I would have said I'd be very lucky to do that.

I talked to -- Serena and I are good friends. I'm sure she'll probably call me and talk to me about it because you've got to put things in perspective. She just had a baby and lost the Wimbledon finals. Just keep it in perspective, and the same thing with me. I know that it's going to sting for a little bit here, but given where I was to where I'm at now, blessed.

Q. When you had the lead, did it feel familiar?
TIGER WOODS: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Q. Like old times?
TIGER WOODS: It did. It did. It didn't feel any different. It didn't feel any different to be next to the lead and knowing what I need to do. I've done it so many different ways. It didn't feel any different. It felt great to be a part of the mix and build my way into the championship. Today was a day that I had a great opportunity.

Q. For the first time your kids were totally aware, I'm sure, of what you were doing out there. Describe the scene on the 18th green with them.
TIGER WOODS: I told them I tried, and I said, "Hopefully you're proud of your pops for trying as hard as I did." They gave me some -- it's pretty emotional because they gave me some pretty significant hugs there and squeezed. I know that they know how much this championship means to me and how much it feels good to be back playing again. To me, it's just so special to have them aware because I've won a lot of golf tournaments in my career, but they don't remember any of them.

So for them to understand what I was doing early in my career. The only thing they've seen is my struggles and the pain I was going through. Now they just want to go play soccer with me. So that's -- man, it's just such a great feeling.

Q. What is next for you, Tiger?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I don't think I'm going to get into Bridgestone. I think I needed top four, I think. Top three, top four, somewhere in there. I don't know. But if I'm in Bridgestone, I'm in Bridgestone. If not, I'll see you at Bellerive.

Q. Tiger, you've spoken about how great the galleries were this week. Unfortunately, there was an incident there on 18. Is that a case of being a little too close to play, and did that affect your shot?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I flinched, but I've had things like that happen a lot in my career with people who just tried to time it. Either that, or they're a little bit over-served. They tipped back a few, and it's late in the day. Unfortunately, that's part of what we have to deal with in today's game. People are trying to yell out things to try to be on TV or be in social media or whatever it may be. That was too close to the game of play.

Q. (Inaudible).
TIGER WOODS: Francesco played -- he played really solidly today. I mean, he hit a couple off shots, but winning, if he does win, it definitely was his short game. I mean, he chipped it beautifully. I know he made a couple of putts here and there for par, but to get it to where it was basically kick in from some of the spots he put himself, that was impressive. Great touch. You could see him actually try and hit a couple with cut spin, a couple of draw spin. You know, he was working the ball around the greens, and that was cool to see.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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