THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY

November 3, 2000

Tiger Woods

TIGER WOODS: Well, I didn't exactly get off to the most ideal start today. But hung in there and put myself in position to make some putts and consequently I was able to give myself, as of right now, two off the lead and right back in the tournament.

TIGER WOODS: No doubt about it. There is a couple of times when I just hit some poor shots and that is what happened. I made a couple of bogeys. But just got to go out there and be as patient as possible on this type of golf course. It is set up very similar to a major championship. And, look at the scores out there, they are not that low. That is probably the trend of the week because the golf course is so fast and the pins are tucked that it is very difficult to get the ball close.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, same as always just hate getting stuck. (laughs) I say that everyday, every round, every week, you guys ask the same questions, the same answer. It is just one of my -- it is a fault I have and unfortunately several things that cause it and it is just you have got to analyze it make sure you know which one you are making on -- just so you can get out of it. Yesterday I was finally able to get the club down in front of me, hit some nice draws again up in the air, and today for most of the the day hit a lot of good shots a couple of squirly ones, but overall I felt pretty good over the ball.

TIGER WOODS: It is really not because the golf course is so difficult that you know the guys aren't going to go that low and run away with it. So if you just keep hanging in there keep plodding along, give yourself a chance here and there, that I just figured I would be all right.

TIGER WOODS: Depends on how the day is. If I can't figure it out then I will go ahead and just kind of plod along, just try get it in the clubhouse best I can. Today I kind of knew what I was doing. I felt like I was -- I guess, how can I put it, either jumping off my right side too fast or over rotating too early and opening up, which means that the club will drop in behind me. And I will come in with no loft on it either hit a pull left or kind of a weak right if I just hang onto it. So I am just trying to slow down the hips get the arms down faster, which enabled me to get the right loft on it. And from there really hit some good shots.

TIGER WOODS: Just one of those days. As I said yesterday I was a yard off and today I was a couple of inches off. It was just -- I don't know, so close making a lot of putts out there. And even a chip, but you just -- that is the way it goes sometimes. Keep hanging on, keep plodding along and the key is to give yourself chances because the greens are so pure that if you roll the ball on the right line at the right pace you know it is already in.

TIGER WOODS: I don't think it was the putt that got me going. Truly, I believe it was a shot on 6, 9-iron shot hitting it that poorly, that far left and then making bogey on, I mean, with no wind a 9-iron in my hand to hit that far left, and for some reason that really agitated me. Then the next tee shot on 7, I said okay just stay committed to what you have been working on all week, and I hit the best 3-wood I have hit in a while, just nice high draw out there, and I said just try to keep that same feeling all the way throughout the round, and I stuffed the 9-iron shot in there, just kind of skipped passed and just made the putt.

TIGER WOODS: I don't think they bring more focus when they are paired with me. I think that you have to bring more to the table now because the scores are getting so much lower collectively. The guys are just getting better. If you look at the scoring, I shot 23-under par last week and was out of it. (laughs) You don't find that too often. It is just -- that is just the way the Tour is changing. There is more good players now. Guys are going lower and deeper and there is more of them. So you have to bring more to the table.

TIGER WOODS: Sometimes it can be good and bad. I have got guys who have played great and I have got guys who have played terrible, so it depends which ones -- how they play.

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. It is hard to say. I think that is something you have to ask him. I know that we played last year in the final rounds in this championship and he played well. I don't -- I don't think I would inspire him, we would go out there and try to do our own business. We don't really talk a whole lot and he kind of does his thing and I kind of do my thing.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think what you find playing this golf course is that if you just hit a couple of bad drives, it is so easy to make bogey. It is very similar to a major championship and that -- it is fast, it is hard, if you hit the ball in the rough, yes, depends on the lie, sometimes you can get there, sometimes you can't. But even the lies that you can get to the green you can't stop it, which means that if you go back over the green or passed the pin you got downhill putts or chips, and that is not what you want to have. You want to try to have as many uphill putts as possible.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah. I think O'Meara, because we play so much golf together that we have -- I get excited playing with Marco, and we seem to play well every time we play with one another.

TIGER WOODS: 50.

TIGER WOODS: I wasn't around then.

TIGER WOODS: I guess any time you have a chance to go double digits, it is nice. And hopefully I can capitalize on an opportunity this week. I am in contention and it would be special. I mean, honestly just sit back and say that I won double digit events in one single season on our Tour it would be special.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, because we had a major championship to play and anything can happen in Majors, especially at Pebble Beach in which it is exposed and it is pretty windy there, and as well as in the British Open, St. Andrews can happen, it can blow 40, 50 miles an hour. This year if you look at it collectively for the Majors I think we got one of the luckiest breaks as far as weather, we had one bad day on Saturday at The Masters. One bad day at Pebble Beach on Saturday, and that was it. The rest of the days were great and wasn't -- wind never really blew.

TIGER WOODS: On that stat?

TIGER WOODS: I think I am more impressed with the stat that I was able to play only one round in the Majors over par. That means more to me.

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. If the wind blows tomorrow, which I heard it could be a front coming through which it could start blowing which means that it will -- it is going to be a test. Because today like for instance on the second hole, I throw up grass, the balloon up above showing downwind, it is showing into wind on the ground, the water ahead of us showing into the wind, okay, pull out the 7, change, all of a sudden it goes straight down again I hit 8. The wind can swirl around here. It is going to be a test, especially on the back nine because you get in those trees it is hard to really trust the wind because it can get down there and do a whole bunch of different things.

TIGER WOODS: That one I got stuck on purpose. I flipped it.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it is just one of those things, you practice on the range and you practice with your buddies, showing off, and say I will hit it around this flag and land it over here. That is why we do it, because you never know when you might need it.

TIGER WOODS: It is all right, I guess.

TIGER WOODS: I know what I did. I just -- I have seen it a few times.

TIGER WOODS: The best shot I have hit all year hands down the 3-wood at 14 at St. Andrews. I think it was Friday. Pin is all the way in the back left and wind is coming about, I don't know, about five to ten miles an hour off the left slightly into my face, and I had to rip a 3-wood and I absolutely made a perfect golf swing for me, club down in front, right loft, the crane in the distance, Stevie and I picked out this ball, never left the crane. It had slight draw to hold it against the wind, it was just a cool thing then, the ball is coming down, just as it starts coming down I hand the club to Stevie, see that crane, the ball lands right on the crane and kind of rolls up on the green. It was just -- I don't know, just the feel, to feel everything come together was just so cool.

TIGER WOODS: Like 267, 270 to the front, somewhere around there.

TIGER WOODS: No, I had about a 40-footer that I left on the left edge of the cup. I knew it didn't break because I saw Andrew, when I was playing four, as I was going out had the same putt and he missed it left and I didn't trust it and played out there exactly to where he did and mine didn't break either.

TIGER WOODS: When I was on 18th green it looked like that was going to be the pairing.

TIGER WOODS: No.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it will fun to play with my partner. (laughs).