TIGER WOODS: Well, the ball being a higher launching ball I had to -- the driver I used to win the U.S. Open last year, I can't really use that driver because it's designed for my other ball. This driver I launch it higher so therefore I need one degree less loft, actually one and a quarter. And if I hit my old driver I hit it straight up in the air. I couldn't really control it in the wind.
Q. Is it the same driver you used in the U.S. Open or same style?
TIGER WOODS: Same style.
Q. You talk about the greens over in Germany, (Inaudible) what did you do in the week off?
TIGER WOODS: I just played golf. My stroke felt good. Even in Germany I said you know what, keep your head down, stay still and just putt. Most of the putts if you watch me play there, watch me on TV, I actually kept my head down longer than I normally would just to make sure it was my stroke. Not the greens, I didn't see anything on the greens. If it bounced off line, so be it. But I stayed still and hit a lot of good putts and they just didn't go in. When I was at home putting on the putting greens I played well. I was in Chicago playing with MJ, and I was putting all right there until we got to Olympia Fields where the green was perfect again, I made some putts. I just continued plugging along here. I know I'm putting well. Just give myself some chances, that's what I did today.
Q. (Inaudible)
TIGER WOODS: Yes, it is. It's nice to get off to a positive start like this. I don't know, just keep plugging along. The scores are so low today because of the perfect conditions out there. It's hard to believe it but if you are 4-under par you are not going to be in the top-10 and you don't see that around this golf course.
Q. (Inaudible)
TIGER WOODS: Yes, we were expecting the wind and interesting conditions and it ended up being nice. The wind was blowing but not hard enough to affect the shots. It was hot enough and humid enough to carry the ball a long way, get it up in the jet stream and let it go. I played with 2 long ball hitters today and we were really aggressive in getting the ball down there.
Q. (Inaudible)
TIGER WOODS: You get positives vibes. Especially the way I won here. I won here 3 different ways. Looking back at it, no matter how I play, I always feel like I got a chance here. That's kind of nice. Even if I wasn't playing well coming in, it was nice to go back to a golf course that you have been successful on.
Q. (Inaudible)
TIGER WOODS: I would rub it right off.
Q. What did you do on 6 today?
TIGER WOODS: I pulled my drive-in the bunker and tried to hit a 6-iron over the lip, hit it fat and put it in the water.
Q. You bogeyed that?
TIGER WOODS: Yes, about eight feet above the hole.
Q. What about 17, what did you do there? Now that you played it?
TIGER WOODS: I hit a 2-iron, 8-iron over the green and 2-putted for par.
Q. Do you think that's what Jack intended?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I was saying earlier how hot and humid it is and how far the ball is flying. Chris didn't hit a very good 3-wood off the tee, he was 8 yards ahead of me and he chipped a little 8-iron from 190. It's hard to believe that's how far the ball is flying today.
Q. New golf ball or new driver, what's more important?
TIGER WOODS: Going to the new driver and this ball, it doesn't curve as much. With that being in mind, the game has certainly changed. It's not about shaping shots. Grant it, I'm still on the slower side of most of these drivers but I know how to speed up my driver a little bit to keep up with everything. My driver is nowhere near as fast as everybody else is out here. I am still able to shape my drives. I don't shape it as well. It's like going back and hitting an old Persimmon driver. You draw the heck out of that. It's hard to draw these drivers because it comes off so fast.
Q. What do you consider good driving accuracy percentage-wise?
TIGER WOODS: You know, every year if I can average over 70 percent of the fairways for the year I'll have a really good year because of the fact I'm hitting the ball further than most of the guys. If I can get the ball out there and feel as if I can be confident hitting a driver out there, keep it in play, I got a pretty good chance. I will be winning a lot of tournaments.
Q. Do you have any advice handling the media spotlight?
TIGER WOODS: If he was smart he would probably ask other people who have been in that position and seek out their advice and hopefully it will benefit him.
Q. (Inaudible)
TIGER WOODS: Not necessarily. Because these pins, some of these pins were unusual for a Thursday. They tucked a couple of them more so than normally would be and used some pins that we would normally find on the weekend than on Thursday. Some of the par-5s, if you hit a good tee shot, you can probably make a birdie but you kind of expect that any way.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thanks, Tiger.
End of FastScripts....
