THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY

October 31, 2000

Tiger Woods

TIGER WOODS: The golf course is set up just a little bit different than it was last time we played. The rough isn't quite as high as it was in 1998. The fairways are just as pure. The greens are just as pure. Maybe just a little bit firmer. But the golf course is in fantastic shape. Looking for a wonderful championship.

TIGER WOODS: Last week I got a lot out of my game considering the way I felt over the golf shots. How this -- well, yesterday, Monday, I guess, I did some nice work on the range and really felt I was back on the track I needed to be. It felt good to go out there today and shape some of the shots that I haven't been able to do for a while and it was a real joy to be able to hit the shots just like I had envisioned them.

TIGER WOODS: Not difficult at all. That is one of the reasons why I take as many breaks as I do so that when I do play I will be well rested and ready to go. That is one of the reasons why I don't play that many events, but I am in a stretch now where I will be playing a lot for a while here and that is one of the reasons why I took off five weeks right before The Presidents Cup because I knew this stretch was going to be hard on my body and my mind and I was ready to go.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think you just take a look at the winning scores from week-to-week. Look how much lower they are over the past ten years versus what they are used to be. The players are just getting better. The field are getting deeper. More guys are shooting lower rounds. You see if you look at this year, I don't think I have ever seen so many 63s and 64s week-in and week-out. There are a lot of them. That just goes to show you the guys are getting better. Not from just the top players, but everybody who is competing out here, everyone that is just getting just a little bit better.

TIGER WOODS: I think it proves the fact that anyone who plays out here on Tour is capable of shooting a great round if not having a great tournament. That is why they are out here. They wouldn't be out here if they weren't able to do that.

TIGER WOODS: I don't think it would be -- I don't think it would be surprising to see those guys win just because of the fact they have had wonderful years. They have been real consistent, especially Steve, he has played extremely consistent all year, and I don't think it would be a surprise to anyone to see them win just like it wasn't a surprise to see David win in 1997. He just got going and won everything for a while. So the guys -- you know the guys out here with a lot of talent and you can recognize them. You know who they are. When they get going, it is just a matter of time.

TIGER WOODS: Did it take me a while? I think it took me a little bit to understand that. I know that when I first came out there was a lot more tension than there is now inside the ropes. I remember going down Milwaukee and cameras running right in front of me and it is kind of hard to talk to your playing partners. They are trying to get out of the way of the cameras; I am trying to get out of the way, it was just a fiasco there for a while, but as things have calmed down and I think it has become a lot easier to be able to play as well as interact with my playing partners. We are out there by ourselves now and it is a lot of fun. These guys are good guys and we enjoy each other's company.

TIGER WOODS: Well, TOUR Championship, it is Halloween, Halloween week, I did it in 1998 here. Last year it was inappropriate to do that and this year, I thought it would be a little bit more of a light hearted atmosphere and it would be fun to see.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think the PGA TOUR is all inclusive and all it takes is be able to get the ball in the hole fast. That is all. That is all there is to it. Now, you have to have the ability to do it. You have to have the work ethic. You have got to have the breaks to go with you at the right time, and that is one of the great things about it, you can qualify. Anybody can qualify for the PGA TOUR. There is a lot of kids that I have seen as I have toured around the country that have the talent to possibly come out here and compete and play. Do they have the work ethic? Do they have the drive to be a player out here? I don't know that. Only the people associated with them truly understand that. But there are a lot of kids coming up that are going to be pretty good.

TIGER WOODS: I got all that. There is a lot there too. You are sounding like Ed. Sorry, Ed.

TIGER WOODS: I would like to do something a little bit lower than that, yeah, and I have -- I have a goal in mind. I haven't quite got there yet. But I am sure you could probably figure it out.

TIGER WOODS: Back in when I played in 1996 I wasn't in it. 1997 it came down to the wire as far as a lot of different things actually. 1998 was -- I had a chance to get the Vardon Trophy. So there were a lot of little different things. Last year was completely different atmosphere. This year, again, it is different. But nonetheless, the goal remains the same to go out there and win. There aren't the season-ending titles up for grabs, but no one wants to go out on a bad note.

TIGER WOODS: That is one of the things I wanted to try to accomplish this year and I have come close. If I have a couple of breaks my way, it could happen. Then again, it could be the other way too. I have had a lot of good things happen to me. What it boils down to is putting yourself in contention enough times. Just like I said, numerous times and I always will say this: The key is to put yourself there. Now, a lot of times you get the right break at the right time, you win; other times you outplay somebody; other times you may gag it, and give it to somebody else or they outplay you like Duffy did last week. It happens. But the key is to keep putting yourself there in contention and then the wins will come.

TIGER WOODS: Is that a goal? Yes. Did I ever think that could happen? Yes.

TIGER WOODS: No (smiles).

TIGER WOODS: Thank goodness I am actually playing a lot better than coming in this week than I was back in 1998. I wasn't -- It was kind of funny, I don't know if I remember this correctly, but I believe I was either four or five over after 9. I was playing with Vijay and Vijay was either 4- or 5-under, I remember being 9 down through 9. He birdies 10. So I am 10 down for 10 in my own pairing, so that is kind of one of the funny memories that I have of this place.

TIGER WOODS: Outside of the majors? Well, I think THE PLAYERS Championship being one, THE TOUR Championship. Obviously all the World Golf Championships.

TIGER WOODS: Probably THE PLAYERS Championship. I think that is something that everyone shoots for. That is the first big event of the year, every year, and it seems to draw probably one of the best fields of the year as well.

TIGER WOODS: I think going down the first hole this morning to see all those little kids out there with black sweat shirts on there, it was a little writing on it, but to have them all out there and they are all non-traditional golfers, it was neat to see. It really is neat to have that kind of impact, to change their perception of a sport. When I was growing up golf was considered a sport for wooses. No one wanted to play it. That is now changing. It is becoming one of the accepted sports, one of the hopefully when I am done playing it will be one of the core sports in America.

TIGER WOODS: That is what I would like to have happen, yeah, that is something I am shooting for, with my foundations. That is one of the reasons why we are doing the things we are doing. You got to take little steps. You can't make the big changes. You got to take it step by step. Some people can get adjusted to it and accept it an learn and grow with it.

TIGER WOODS: The lies are kind of -- best way to describe it is hit and miss. You can get -- some lies are great. You can spin a wedge or spin a 9-iron, you can make it hold. Other places, you are lucky to just even come close to getting to the green. It all depends on the luck of the draw there, but the greens are -- I think they are harder than they were than when we played in 1998. Just as fast, but a couple of greens, I hit sand wedge into one of them, and it skipped by 15 feet. That normally doesn't happen with a full sand wedge.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, a lot better. It's more fair now. For a hole that long, to have it pitched out to as narrow as it was -- we were hitting -- I hit 2-iron off that tee a couple of times two years ago for a hole -- what is it 480 or 475 to have to hit a 2-iron to just keep the ball in play kind, of run another one up the green, I don't think that is the way the hole is meant to play.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, and 9-iron today.

TIGER WOODS: Maybe just a little bit here and there. I guess the TV ratings are probably the best indicator of that. It just seems like that I have helped in that regard. It benefits everybody who plays.

TIGER WOODS: Any parallels? I really don't think so in the standpoint of from what I have seen on TV what has been reported, how they were kept out of playing junior tennis, and that wasn't the case with me, I was playing every week. When I was a kid I was -- my parents actually kind of pulled the reins back on me and said, you can't play everyday. I love to play. One summer I played I think 45 tournaments. That is a lot of tournaments in the summer. So I have played almost every day. That is a little bit different than how they were. They were kept out of playing, but as far as support, I think my father loves me and has supported me. Their father has supported them, in different ways, but the love is still there.

TIGER WOODS: I think what they have done is, I mean, absolutely fantastic, the way they have changed the perception of tennis; how much stronger you have to be and how much more fit, more power, it is just -- athletics are changing, and some sports are more dramatic than others, and the impact that they have made on their game has been absolutely fantastic.

TIGER WOODS: I have only met Venus one time. Ironically enough, I was at school at Stanford and I believe it was her first ATP event, it was in San Jose. I went down to watch her play in her first match, and I never forget meeting her. I had to look up to meet her. That was kind of unusual in itself. But it was neat to see her play; and, she played real well.

TIGER WOODS: Guys are getting better, stronger, more fit. You are getting guys who are more athletic, coming out playing and I think the game of golf is changing. It is evolving, it is becoming more power driven than it has been in the past. Guys don't shape the ball as much as hey used to be doing; it is just the fact that you got to bomb it now. You got to take it out there and put it in play and make a lot more birdies than you ever used to. I remember watching on TV when I was growing up, watching guys shoot 71, 70 leading the tournament and win. That doesn't happen anymore unless it is in a major. If you shoot 69 probably going to get passed, that is how I think the game has changed, you got to be a lot more aggressive than you ever used to be.

TIGER WOODS: Two words?

TIGER WOODS: Not bad.

TIGER WOODS: Very happy in the fact that I have been able to work as hard as I have been able to work on my game and see the progress I have made on the golf course because we all know, as anyone who plays the game -- I mean you can go out there and hit the ball so good on the range and take lessons and get better, taking it to the golf course is a different story. And then the next level after that is take it into tournament play. I have kind have done it step by step, hit the ball well on the range, go out and play it at home, test it out, prove to myself that it works, then I have to prove to myself that it works in a tournament. And to see the results after all the hard work, that to me is extremely satisfying.

TIGER WOODS: I don't think it is. I don't think it has the same impact that it used to have because it is not the last tournament of the year. I know next year it is going to be different, but this is not our last tournament, it is our Tour Championship and it just feels a little awkward. Traditionally it is our last tournament of the year and then we are done. It does feel a little awkward knowing the fact that supposedly it is our last tournament of the year, but then we got to play one more, so from that standpoint, I don't think it has the impact that it used to have, but I think it will next year when it turns back to its old format.

TIGER WOODS: I think if you put it as the last tournament of the year I think it will.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah.

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. That is a good question. It might have, but I have always worked this hard. This is what I do. This is just me. As far as other players maybe observing that and saying that maybe I could work a little bit harder, I don't know. I know that David has worked pretty hard on changing his physique and strength and flexibility in his game and it has paid dividends. Other players have tried to become more fit. But I think what it all boils down to is how bad do you really want it when you play. And, you can work out all you want, you can have the right diet, practice as hard as you want, but when it comes down the stretch in a tournament, all that is kind of thrown out the door, it is, how bad do you really want to win.

TIGER WOODS: I will answer your second one first. Yes, I used to go trick or treating. Generally it was -- I did dress up as a golfer a couple of times, in my dad's clothes with the pockets you had which come in from up here. Tight, pink, sky blue, plaid tops. I don't know how my dad wore that stuff. But all you guys wore that. (laughs). But, would I like to compete in the Olympics? Yeah, I would. That would be pretty neat. It would be interesting from the standpoint that I don't think it would have, I truly believe, I don't think it would have the same impact as it would have for most sports that are in the Olympics already, just because of the fact that it has no history yet. All those other sports, that is the biggest event there is; our sport, that is not. We have our four Majors, those are the four big ones. I think that is the problem they are running into right now with tennis: They have the four Slams, then you throw in the Olympics, that is why some of the top players don't play, because they'd much rather focus on the slams. I guess over time, once golf is in the Olympics, and then you give time and the great matches I am sure will occur, I don't know, I am curious to see what the format would be, but I think given time, the Olympics could be one of our biggest events, but it won't happen, I don't think, initially. Just like it didn't happen with tennis. But, over time I bet you it will be.

TIGER WOODS: It would be nice, yeah, especially since the fact that it only happens once every four years, you don't get a chance to do it every year. To win one of our Majors, at least you have a chance every year to win the same majors. Olympics that is not the case. Once every four years and you know, four years time you don't know where you are going to be in your life.