	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE 148TH OPEN

July 19, 2019

Tiger Woods

Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

TIGER WOODS: I kind of grinded my way around the golf course today. I had a chance to get it back to even par for the tournament. I didn't handle the par-5s well. I was in perfect condition all three of them, if I handled those par 5s well I would be right there.

Q. How does it compare to what you were going through in 2015-2016 when you had a lot of starts and stops? Is it worse than that? Better? About the same?
TIGER WOODS: You can't compare the two. Those were some of the lowest times of my life. This is not. This is just me not playing well and not scoring well, and adds up to high scores.

Q. Is it more disappointing or discouraging for --
TIGER WOODS: It's more frustrating than anything else because this is a major championship and I love playing in these events. I love the atmosphere. I love just the stress of playing in a major. And unfortunately, I've only had a chance to win one of them and was able to do it. But the other three I didn't do very well.

Q. Was there a moment where you had the captain's cap on and thought about the Presidents Cup at all?
TIGER WOODS: Not at all, no. We have so many events to go. We have the entire playoffs. And points won't be decided until after The TOUR Championship, and we don't pick until after HSBC. We've got time until December. It's a long time.

Q. How do you see the next couple of months panning out? Do you feel you need to rest more?
TIGER WOODS: I'm going to take a couple of weeks off and get ready for the playoffs. We've got the playoffs coming up, and anything can happen. Last year I almost stole the whole FedExCup at the very end. If it wasn't for Rosie's little break there at the bunker, it could have been interesting.

So get ready for those events. And after that then have a break.

Q. What did you do to loosen up a little better today or get yourself maybe just a little physically more able?
TIGER WOODS: I just torqued my setup differently, just tried to make some minor changes swing-wise. Because let's be honest, I don't have the flexibility I used to have, and never will. So I'm going to have to make those adaptations.

If you look at what Hogan did with his setup, it looked not square at all but he was able to flush it. So I have to make certain adaptations on certain things, and with the cooler temperatures I was able to do that.

Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: No, I just want some time off just to get away from it. I had a long trip to Thailand and then trying to get ready for this event, to play this event, it's been a lot of travel, a lot of time in the air, a lot of moving around and different hotels and everything. I just want to go home.

Q. Do you think your body can maintain the way that it is? Do you think you have to do something to improve your health?
TIGER WOODS: No, I just have to continue doing what I'm doing. I've gotten so much stronger over the past year working with my physios and trying to get my body organized so that I can play at a high level. It panned out; I won a major chip this year.

It's just a matter of being consistent. That's one of the hardest things to accept as an older athlete is that you're not going to be as consistent as you were at 23. Things are different. And I'm going to have my hot weeks. I'm going to be there in contention with a chance to win, and I will win tournaments. But there are times when I'm just not going to be there. And that wasn't the case 20-some-odd years ago. I had a different body and I was able to be a little bit more consistent.

Q. Can you sum up the reception you've had this week from the Portrush crowd.
TIGER WOODS: Oh, my God, they were incredible. They were so nice and so respectful. The kids were respectful. But that's not always the case when we travel around the world. We hear some rude comments from the kids. I think the adults kind of teach them that.

But here they were so respectful. We couldn't have played in front of a better fan base than here at Portrush.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297