ADVIL WESTERN OPEN

July 4, 2001

Tiger Woods

TIGER WOODS: I feel pretty good. I have always enjoyed coming to Cog Hill. I have had a lot of success here, have played well here as an amateur and again as a pro. I like the facility. I like the people here in Chicago. For some reason I have had a lot of success in the area.

TIGER WOODS: A couple of bears chased us but we had a great time down there. We had a great time getting away from everybody just out there relaxing enjoying the environment.

TIGER WOODS: No more than 30, 40 yards. They were just hitting it funny too.

TIGER WOODS: I have always intended to play here. Be honest, but I really needed to get away because I played an awful lot from starting -- when I started back at the Nelson all the way through through Westchester I played a lot of golf. I really didn't take a whole lot of time off. I was out practicing getting ready for the Open. No, it was nice getting away and putting the clubs down getting away for a little bit. I didn't touch a club from Monday until I had my clinic on Monday.

TIGER WOODS: It wasn't necessarily energy. I wasn't swinging well. You could have all the energy in the world, if you are not swing playing well, you are not playing well. I just want wasn't hitting the golf ball crisp and solid. Westchester is not a golf course which is very forgiving. You have got to hit good shots. Got to drive the ball and hit good iron shots. I wasn't doing that well.

TIGER WOODS: It depends on what day you catch me. Sometimes I am stuck, sometimes I am not mixing up speed, my arm plane might be off, a lot of different things can go into it. I just need too find out what it is and then fix it. I have been practicing a little bit the last few days, been hitting it a little more crisp.

TIGER WOODS: Other than my allergies acting up today I feel great.

TIGER WOODS: No. 2 hole, I think -- I don't know -- I don't know what the weather forecast is for the week. I know the new No. 2, good little hole, the trees are definitely there and the wind is howling, we got to keep the ball above the trees and also keep it down too. It should be a challenge. It is a neat little hole. It is a lot easier hole than the old No. 2. Old No. 2 put the pin on the front left or any where in the front, it was virtually impossible to get it close. Now you get a good chance of making birdie.

TIGER WOODS: (British Open) When I get over to Europe going to start practicing, get ready over there, start playing some of the links courses and fish and have a good time just like we do every year. That type of golf is completely different than what we play over here.

TIGER WOODS: I have played well there when I played in 1996 finished something like 22nd as an amateur. At that time it was pretty good for me. That's where I felt like I made -- there was a turning point in my amateur career. I was -- I shot 65 or 66 in the second round, had 8 birdies in an 11-hole stretch. I felt like, yeah, I can really play with these guys and I went on to play really well at that event. It was a great confidence booster going into later that summer and then in the U.S. amateur.

TIGER WOODS: I don't play every week. The tournaments I play in -- hard thing about this sport is so many guys are good and you are not going to get one or two guys going head to head each week that they compete. I think that is just physically possible, the depth of the field is that deep. You may see a collection of guys as -- I said this for a long time, you may have 8, 10 guys you see again and again and again rotating around, but you will see those same guys in the bigger tournaments which has happened over the past few years.

TIGER WOODS: Last night I saw the fireworks going off where I was staying and keeping me up a little bit, but it was nice coming back out and playing this golf course, getting out with the Pro Am guys, we had a great time today. Really nice being back in Chicago.

TIGER WOODS: (Putting) I have been putting really good. It is just I haven't got myself in position to make birdie puts. When you have 20, 30 ~-footers all day you are not going to make a whole lot of them those. At the U.S. open if I did putt -- if I didn't putt I probably would have been probably down the road. I made at least 8 or 10 putts from twelve feet everyday. I poured them in (inaudible) Unfortunately they were for pars. I wasn't in position to make birdies. That's inevitably what hurt me at the Open I wasn't able to hit the ball close enough. At Westchester I made a ton of par putts but you just can't beat a whole lot of players making par putts.

TIGER WOODS: That's part of the game. You are not going to play well every week. I was disappointed I wasn't able to hit the ball the way I know I can. But it's not the end of the world either. Life goes on and I am going to go out there and try my best. I was proud of the way I was able to manage my game around not swinging well. I was able to keep myself in contention at the Open not hitting the ball particularly well. And I was pleased by that, but I wasn't pleased with the fact that I didn't have a chance on the back nine on Sunday legitimately.

TIGER WOODS: I wasn't necessarily busy off the course as far as my endorsements go and appearances, all that kind of stuff. I was practicing and getting ready for the Open. So I was beating a lot of golf balls and trying to work on a few shots that I was going to need for Southern Hills. Unfortunately I wasn't able to put it together for that week. That is just the way it is.

TIGER WOODS: Be honest with you last year I was doing that just because the wind was howling out here, I was trying to keep the ball down, and people said I was trying to get ready for the British Open. I was just trying to win this event. The wind was blowing a lot harder than it was right now. And I had to try and keep the ball down and it was the shots that I needed actually for St. Andrews. So just so happened to be coincidental. But I normally don't do that. Sometimes I might here or there I will play certain shots just because a major is coming up but not all the time.