MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 6, 2000

Tiger Woods

TIGER WOODS: It blew a little bit today. You know, it was very interesting because today you hit some clubs some distances that you're not quite used to. 1st hole, soft 7-iron from 242. No. 10, 136, I hit a soft 7-iron. Over a hundred yards' discrepancy between the two holes, same club. That's kind of the way the day was. You had to play by feel and try and shape your shots correctly.

TIGER WOODS: I hit it pretty good today. I hit it pretty solid. Kept it low at times; high at others when I had to. Overall, I'm very pleased the way I worked the ball into the wind, rode it when I had to.

TIGER WOODS: 5, I hit a driver and a 5-iron to about 50 feet, 2-putted there.

TIGER WOODS: 8, hit a 6-iron in the left bunker, blasted long, tried to make about a 12-footer there and missed it. Birdied 10. I hit a driver and a 7-iron to about 12 feet, made that. On 11, I hit a 7-iron, 156, to about 12 feet again, right below the hole, made that. Par 5, what, 15?

TIGER WOODS: Driver and a 3-wood short, right. Pitched up to about, oh, a foot and a half, made that. Bogeyed 17. I hit a 3-wood off the tee, a 7-iron short left, chipped up past the hole about 12 feet and missed it.

TIGER WOODS: 18, I hit a drive, started down the right middle, hit a draw with it unfortunately. Ended up in the left rough. Had 240 in the front, hit a 4-iron, just tried to squeeze it up there in the gallery somewhere. Turned out okay. Chip shot from the right, first cut. Chipped it down there to just about ten feet, just missed it on the bottom edge, pulled it.

TIGER WOODS: Made a good one on 14.

TIGER WOODS: Made about an 18-footer straight up the hill.

TIGER WOODS: It's not so bad if you're play in wind like this, but when you add in elevation changes here. It just makes it that much more difficult, the fact that you can't throw the ball in there downwind and expect it to stop right away. On certain holes you have to allow for 30, 40 yards of roll. 17, I was joking around with Stevie, probably would have been a better play for me to hit a low sniping 7-iron, run it up short. I didn't quite have the shot for a 6-iron. I had to throw it up too high with a 6-iron, just didn't feel like it was the right club. I felt like 7 was the right club, but I hit the wrong trajectory.

TIGER WOODS: Driver.

TIGER WOODS: Yes. Just hit it left rough, just drilled it.

TIGER WOODS: Let's see. I had 254 to front. I rolled it in the right bunker.

TIGER WOODS: This golf course is designed for this wind. I guess the Kona Wind is the opposite wind, that's when this golf course really becomes difficult. This golf course is not designed for that wind. On 18, it's not designed to hit the ball straight into a galing wind. You're supposed to ride that wind from right-to-left, down the hill. We had to play that wind a couple times last year, but it wasn't blowing this hard.

TIGER WOODS: Even.

TIGER WOODS: I mean, these conditions, you've just got to keep playing along. Under these conditions, 6-under-par is obviously wonderful playing, but there's still some holes left. Under these conditions out here, it's very difficult to keep making birdies, keep going because it's just blowing that hard. Marginal shots just won't get it done. You know, fortunate for us, we're in a field that we were able -- I made a couple birdies coming out early on the Back 9, was able to get somewhere near the lead. There's so many holes to be played. With the forecast supposed to be predicting the wind blowing harder on Sunday, something like 50, if that's the case, you just need to keep making pars and plodding along. If you keep plodding along, making a few birdies here and there, you'll be fine.

TIGER WOODS: No. There's so many holes left. It's only the first round.

TIGER WOODS: Just make sure your swing plane is good, make sure you round it off enough so the club comes down in front of you so you can shut it off, add loft, whatever you need to do at impact. If I'm not swinging well, as you know, I tend to get stuck. Getting stuck here means I'm going to flip the ball up in the air, you don't know what distance it's going to go. If I get the club coming down in front of me, which we've been working on pretty hard, down in front, I can shut it off or use a true loft, and I'll be just fine.