VERIZON BYRON NELSON CLASSIC

May 11, 2001

Tiger Woods

TIGER WOODS: Yeah. The fairways were a lot drier today and greens were about the same as they were over at Cottonwood, but the wind wasn't blowing quite as hard.

TIGER WOODS: I didn't hit that many good putts and I definitely didn't swing the club very well today, and it was nice to be able to get in a round under par. I drove it all right. I hit a lot of good drives. I just couldn't hit my approach shots. They were stony and I definitely didn't make anything.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I am Tiger and I am going to finish, so...

TIGER WOODS: If I can drive the ball like I have been and then get my iron game going like I know I can -- I've hit so many good shots on the range, I just need to get over being Ranger Rick and go out there and hit good shots on the golf course.

TIGER WOODS: Oh, I read them fine. It's just when you don't hit your lines, you can read them as good as you want, they're not going to go in the hole. But I did make two good putts on the last two holes. Up and down on 17 was huge, I thought, because I hit such a good iron shot in there. It just went five yards too far, but I was able to make par there and made a good putt on 18 for par.

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. I felt better over the putts. It's just the way golf is sometimes. Sometimes you feel great over putts. Sometimes you feel it's a strange instrument, you've never held a putter before in your life, but for some reason I just really couldn't hit my lines. I could read them right. I just wasn't able to hit the ball on the line I wanted, but you know, who knows. I mean I'll get a little practice in today and I should be all right by tomorrow.

TIGER WOODS: I was frustrated just not being able to play as well as I know I can play. I played pretty solid yesterday. I just didn't do that today, and as I said, I felt like I drove the ball pretty good. I hit a couple shots over the right, but it wasn't that bad. I felt like I was able to let the club go and I just needed to do the same thing with my iron game, get the ball in there a little closer. When you have 20-footers all day, you're not going to make the majority of those putts.

TIGER WOODS: Not when you can't find your golf swing. I'm not hitting the ball very good, and I'm spending most of my time just trying to get my game right, and maybe if I was playing good and hitting the ball in the middle of every fairway and on the green tight, it might be a little easier to look around, but I'm not happy with the way I'm playing, so I'm trying to figure out a way to get the ball in the hole as fast as I can.

TIGER WOODS: I think David's playing very well. He just hasn't been able to play. With the injuries he's had on his back and wrist, he just hasn't been able to play. But the times he has played he's played really solid. He just hasn't made that many mistakes. He's just been real solid, and now he's starting to make a few putts and starting to get it going a little bit, and consequently he's right there.

TIGER WOODS: Stevie. I've always wanted to go down to New Zealand, for one, but Stevie is from there and I just want to go down there and support him, and that is his home course where they're playing. That's where he grew up and played all of his golf, and he's teasing me about he's not going to use his yardage book and I keep saying, have you ever carried for a guy who's ever won that tournament? And that's the only tournament he's never won on the Australian Tour.

TIGER WOODS: Who knows. Who knows.

TIGER WOODS: He is excited. He's excited about getting down there and really showing me where he grew up. He's talked a lot about it. He's got a house right there and it's going to be fun just hanging out where he was born and raised.

TIGER WOODS: I really don't go on a whole lot of vacations. My vacation is home. If you think about it, we spend more than half the year on the road.

TIGER WOODS: I think I've -- it's just me. It's personality wise. I've always been loyal to the people who have been nice to me, and I always want to go back, and the only problem I've had so far since I've turned pro is getting back to the tournaments that really got me started, gave me the exemptions when I first turned pro. I just haven't had time. My schedule is real hectic in the fall. I play a lot, and unfortunately it just hasn't worked out, but I've always been that way. I'm loyal to the people who are my friends, and I guess that's maybe a fault probably.

TIGER WOODS: I just like going over there to Germany. I love playing around the world. That's one. And to be able to go to Germany and other places around the world, it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun traveling around the world. This year I got to go to Dubai for the first time, so I just enjoy it. Things like that I just enjoy doing.