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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 15, 2019

Tiger Woods

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. How surprised were you by the results of the two shots on 17?
TIGER WOODS: Well, the second wedge shot, not really, I hit it too flat. But the first one I was a bit surprised it went that far. I took something off that wedge and it flew a lot further than I thought. The other guys took a little read off of that.

Q. With that pin today, was it tougher from the tee or the drop area?
TIGER WOODS: No, I mean both shots I'm just trying to hit the ball into the slope and just walk away with a 20-, 25-footer and move on about my business. As I said, the second one I hit too flat and too hot. But the first one from the regular tee was a good shot, it just flew a little bit too far.

Q. How demoralizing is a hole like that?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I was pretty ticked, no doubt about that, and I was bound and determined to get it all back and get it back to five, and I thought that would have been a hell of a fight. Ended up getting back to three, still was a good fight to get to that point, but as of right now I'm six back, which is definitely doable on this golf course, especially with the weather coming in, and I just need to go out there and put it together this weekend, because right now literally anybody who makes the cut has got a chance to win this tournament.

Q. Knowing that the weather's going to change and the wind is going to come out of a different direction, this course will play exactly opposite as it has so far. How does your strategy change?
TIGER WOODS: The forecast actually has changed a little bit. It's supposed to come out of the south tomorrow and then get nasty on Sunday coming out of the north. So according to the weather, you never know with those guys, so if it stays the way it is right now with the wind coming out of the south, we don't have to change much. If it blows, this golf course -- right now the golf course is playing really short, even for this time of year. If we played this in May with these conditions, I mean, the golf ball would be going forever. But with the overseed on the fairways the ball's not really running. A few guys are catching some mud on the golf ball, and so it's a bit of a challenge, as I said. Everyone who makes the cut, anyone who makes the cut has a chance to win this golf tournament.

Q. Have you made a scheduling decision as it pertains to next week?
TIGER WOODS: Next week? What about next week?

Q. Tampa.
TIGER WOODS: Sorry, I haven't.

Q. Valspar. Are you playing?
TIGER WOODS: I don't know, let me go have lunch first.

Q. If you had seen the other guys hit first, went first on 17, would it have possibly changed the club?
TIGER WOODS: No I would have taken more off of it. I would probably have taken another five off of that. It got up in the wind and it just rode it. It kind of flat-lined on me just a little bit, just a little pitching wedge, yeah.

Q. Did you consider re-teeing rather than the drop zone?
TIGER WOODS: I did, but I figured I can handle an 80 yard shot and obviously I can't.

Q. What are you happiest with right now what are you least happiest with?
TIGER WOODS: I'm very happy with the way I've been grinding around this golf course. I've missed a few opportunities to gets up-and-down for birdie. Overall I think I've putted pretty solidly and other than 17 today, I really haven't done a whole lot wrong. I very easily could be up near that lead, there's no way I would be leading, but I would be close enough to that lead, given the weekend and the forecast.

Q. Anything at all with the neck? Has it been okay?
TIGER WOODS: The neck's fine. No, the neck's good. We did some good work this past week and good shots it to calm down. The lower back's moving nicely. Everything's kind of based upon that. If I'm able to move that, then the forces I generate as they go up the chain it won't be as much.

Q. Tiger, over the years that 17th has really not given you much trouble.
TIGER WOODS: No.

Q. You haven't really hit a lot of balls in the water there. Is it a hole that today would rank among -- how would you put it in its difficulty today?
TIGER WOODS: No, number wise and club wise, it shouldn't be that hard. But we all know if you land it up on top it's got a good chance of getting out of here. And that's the tricky part, is that, it's just a wedge and you want to get it somewhere up there where you got a chance to make birdie, but you just can't afford to land it too far up on top.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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