VERIZON BYRON NELSON CLASSIC

Q. Tiger, how do you feel about your round today?

TIGER WOODS: Actually I was very pleased. I hit a lot of good shots today, and what I was really surprised about was my touch on the greens. I actually rolled the ball pretty good. When you take that much time off, generally you don't have your touch on the short game. That's usually the last thing to come back, but I rolled it pretty good today.

TIGER WOODS: Not necessarily. Not with the wind up as much as it was today, and we had four or five new pins that we've never seen before on this golf course, and I don't know which way the green goes on those pins, so it was kind of interesting hitting to some of those pins and you kind of try to get a feel for some of the putts because you just saw half those putts.

TIGER WOODS: I'm very pleased. Yeah. I hit just one bad drive today and it cost me two shots, but other than that, I was all right.

TIGER WOODS: I think any time you can play on this golf course and you know that with the conditions being soft, you can shoot a good number over here. Over on TPC it's not necessarily the case. The wind just keeps blowing just a little bit stronger over there, you're more exposed than you are over here. Here there are some hills and some houses that will shelter you. So I felt pretty good with the way I played today, obviously a lot better than what I started out last year.

TIGER WOODS: It's not my fault, I guess. I guess they come out here to have fun and enjoy and watch some good golf, and I'm not the one playing always the good golf. A lot of the others in the group are playing good, but I'm excited for the people to come out and support myself as well as the other players and come out and work on their farmer's tan.

TIGER WOODS: I was really pleased with the way I hit it, and hopefully I can continue improving day by day. Took me a little while to get into it. I started out slow, where I felt the rhythm of the round, felt the rhythm of the shot, walking, hitting a shot, getting a sense of distance control. Those things took a little bit longer than normal just because of the layout, but hopefully tomorrow I'll get into it a little bit quicker.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it was.

TIGER WOODS: Get it right back. It's always good to get it right back just because it doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth for too long.

TIGER WOODS: Pretty bad. Not as bad as Harrison was yesterday, though. It was pretty bad.

TIGER WOODS: I guess it's this time of year, the ragweed is out, cotton blowing out here, all those little bugs out here chewing on your face. Just makes for a long day. A lot of people kicking up all of the stuff out of the grass, too, which makes it a difficult day for all of us who have allergies. I was just trying to lull traffic down there and doing that, I have a tendency of getting ahead of it.

TIGER WOODS: I did get on top of it and get ahead of it, but not like that. I've already started way right and didn't even think about coming back.

TIGER WOODS: No, I took an unplayable. And I just tried to get back to the fairway, couldn't do that. Then wedged it down there, then 2 -footed for a solid 6.

TIGER WOODS: 17 we had 92 and 96 on top. I shot a 95 and 200 to the hole. I hit 7-iron in there to about 6 feet.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I hit a lot of good putts today, made some good par putts, and I started on line. It's nice to step up there and shot the putts on line when you're looking, especially after a layoff like I had. Usually you come out with low expectations knowing the fact that generally you're not going to always hit every putt where you're looking, and I was able to do that most of the day, which is definitely pretty good.

TIGER WOODS: Do I sense that?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. You gotta ask the other guys on that.

TIGER WOODS: No. We were put on the clock. We were on the clock for about six holes. Obviously everyone was, it wasn't just me. I was playing my normal routine, but I just stepped up on it and just tried not to get a bad time.

TIGER WOODS: We got put on the clock on 7, 7 green.

TIGER WOODS: I wasn't particularly affected.

TIGER WOODS: Just put the ball on the green somewhere and that's a tough one to get to, just put it on the green and at least give yourself a chance to make a putt. Felt pretty good with my putter, just put it on the green somewhere and I really hit one good.

TIGER WOODS: Hopefully the greens are a little bit faster than what we've been playing on over there. It's been a little slower on the practice round, and hopefully they've sped up a little bit. This wind got them out, and where they can putt a little bit better and do good shots.

TIGER WOODS: Generally these golf courses aren't set up extremely difficult. They're difficult enough when the wind blows, and that's when the test comes on this golf course, both these courses when the wind comes up. If the wind doesn't come up, this golf course is defenseless and the guys just -- we all go low. A bad round can be a couple under par, but if the wind's up, it's howling, it's tough to get a feel for your distance control, and towards the weekend I tend to putt the pins a little bit, so it gets even more difficult to shoot a low number.

TIGER WOODS: I've always preferred it tougher. That's one of the reasons why I enjoy playing the Majors because if you play well, you're going to have a better chance of moving up. If you shoot a round that's 2-, 3-, 4-under par, you're going to move up the board. If you do that out here, you're probably going to lose ground.

TIGER WOODS: I'm pretty satisfied right now. I was able to hit the ball pretty good and made a few putts.