WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 24, 2003

Tiger Woods

TIGER WOODS: Three feet on one and to about 12 feet on the other.

Q. (Inaudible)?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, that was a good putt, too. I just kicked it off line and from there I obviously missed left.

Q. Did you think it was down on 6? It looked like it was halfway down and popped back out.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, that was a good putt, wasn't it? That's just the way it goes. It was a good putt, just had a touch too much pace on it to take the break to go in.

Q. Did 2 take a little wind out of your sails having an eagle putt?

TIGER WOODS: No, I figured if I still shot 3-under or 4 on the front nine I'm still in the ballgame. I was still right there and I needed to make -- I figured probably two birdies early on the back nine and get myself up there probably tied for the lead but actually it went the other way, I made two bogeys and Darren made two birdies there pretty quick and started it off.

Q. I'm not sure if Darren is the kind of guy that watches the board or not? Did you want to give him something to look at?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I was trying to get to a point where it was a one-shot difference with three to go. With 16 playing as fast as it is you can make birdie there. Then 18, I mean, anything can happen there. So if I could just somehow get it to one I'd have a chance at least of winning or putting it into a playoff where I'd still have a chance.

Q. (Inaudible).

TIGER WOODS: Not if I birdied out. I came right back with the next two holes and stuffed them. I just didn't make it.

Q. The number on 16, the yardage coming in on 16?

TIGER WOODS: I had 262 and hit 2-iron over the green.

Q. Did you feel like you left many birdies out there on the front nine?

TIGER WOODS: No, on the front nine probably just one. Obviously three-putting No. 2. But other than that, the putts that I had were about 15 to 20 feet. They were kind of on the cusp of should I -- you don't feel that bad if you don't make them, put it that way.

Q. What about on the backside?

TIGER WOODS: The backside, 10 I wasn't that close, 11, I hit in there about 15 feet and missed it. Then obviously pulling 13.

Q. (Inaudible).

TIGER WOODS: I got better as the week went on, which was nice. I just didn't make enough putts today, and I did hit it good early in the week and made everything, and then ball striking comes around and then I don't make as many putts. Such is golf.

Q. Would you suggest they should change the setup on 16 a little bit? Hal was not pleased with it and Davis said it's all wrong for the way the hole is.

TIGER WOODS: I've never liked the change. I said it at the beginning of the week and I stick by it. It's a heck of a hole with it up -- even when it's fast they still play it up and give us a chance of getting there in two. That's the hardest green on the golf course. I don't think there would have been too many golf balls that would have landed pin high and stuck there.

Q. As hard as the course was playing and as good as Darren was playing, was it going to take a phenomenal round today to catch him?

TIGER WOODS: Well, we didn't know what he was going to shoot starting out. If I would have gotten to 12 I would have had a chance. That was kind of my number starting out today, if I would have had a chance to pick up 12.

Q. Are you looking forward to Boston?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I am looking forward to it. It's a good field and the golf course looks to be really tough. It should be a lot of fun.

Q. Could you talk about Darren? He shows flashes of potential. He played phenomenal. You've obviously seen a lot of his game?

TIGER WOODS: That's the way he plays. He's either playing great and winning tournaments or missing cuts. That's the way Darren is. When he gets on a roll, you saw it out there, I'm sure, the better he plays the faster he walks and gets after it. I played with him a couple days ago and he was that way. He never really missed a shot when I played with him.

Q. (Inaudible).

TIGER WOODS: We've never seen it this fast before. It was really tough to keep the ball in the fairway. No. 4, I don't think there were too many fairways hit this weekend on No. 4. I hit probably one of the best drives I could have hit there, high cut, landed on the right side of the fairway, ended up in the rough. Today it landed out in the middle and ended up in the rough. That wasn't even in the first cut, either.

Q. (Inaudible).

TIGER WOODS: I think it's great to have golf courses that are firm. We play so many golf courses that are soft. Today was the first day the greens were actually firm. The fairways have been firm and the greens have been soft and you worried about spinning the ball off. They didn't put any water on them last night.

Q. (Inaudible).

TIGER WOODS: You have to be more precise on where you're going to be with it. You've got to be more committed on what kind of shot you're going to play and hit it.

End of FastScripts....