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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL

August 25, 2006

Tiger Woods

AKRON, OHIO

CHRIS REIMER: We want to welcome four time champion here at the World Golf Championships at Bridgestone Invitational, Tiger Woods. Obviously we can start by talking a little bit about your final hole there.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I hit a drive and a 9 iron and a 60 degree wedge and two putted. First bogey of the day.

CHRIS REIMER: At any point did it cross your mind you might have to go up on the roof?

TIGER WOODS: I thought for sure that ball must have been out of bounds. Then it wasn't out of bounds. On top of that, I thought we had to somehow find it.

It was in some guy's pocket, but they ended up getting it, and then we got the ruling regarding the yardage. I think I had 84 to the hole, a full 60 for me and hit it just on the green and almost made the putt. It would have been a nice 4.

Q. Did they eventually find the ball?

TIGER WOODS: They found the ball, yeah.

Q. Whereabouts?

TIGER WOODS: In the guy's pocket.

Q. Did they find the guy?

TIGER WOODS: Uh huh.

Q. Do you suspect that might be out of bounds next year?

TIGER WOODS: Probably. It might be out of bounds tomorrow.

Q. If they didn't find the ball, I assume that would have made a difference?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know.

Q. Were you willing to play it off the roof?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know. I mean, I don't know how that works.

Q. The ball landed over the roof and actually went into the loading dock.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, Steve Sands was saying that they were eating back there, and they said, "is this Tiger's ball?"

Q. Well, the guy found the ball and then some guy came running out and said, That's Tiger's ball?

TIGER WOODS: And then he put it in his pocket.

Q. How far did that 9 iron go?

TIGER WOODS: Stevie thought it went about 212 in the air.

Q. Was the ball returned to you?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah. Evidently I didn't need to have it returned. I don't know.

Q. How far was the 9 iron supposed to go?

TIGER WOODS: I had 167 to the hole.

Q. Do you feel incredibly fortunate?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, because if I would have had to redrop and play where I played my second shot from, it would have been a tough 6, really. So it was a huge break to make 5 and get out of there with 5.

Q. You can't have ever seen anything like that before?

TIGER WOODS: No, I've certainly never seen or certainly never experienced anything like that. I've never even heard of anything like that.

Q. Paul then hit over the stands, as well?

TIGER WOODS: No, I didn't know that until we got up towards the green and he wasn't exactly very happy. Somebody told me, one of the spectators, told me that Paul's ball is over the green, as well. Then he picked up his ball and it was on the green. I don't know why he did that at the time realizing his ball was in the bushes back there.

Q. Did the officials seem to have an idea or did they have to consult each other?

TIGER WOODS: They were consulting. I think there were two or three of them trying to figure out was the ball in bounds or not, and if it is in bounds what do we do, what's the arc, what's the yardage from where the ball ended up stopping and then try and get on the arc, try and get the same yardage either left or right of the flag, which my ball was right of the flag when it came in, so they went to the right of the flag.

Q. How did they come up with 84?

TIGER WOODS: I think somebody had a range finder.

Q. Is it an oversight that it's not already out of bounds?

TIGER WOODS: I'm not complaining (laughter).

Q. When they were holding up the flag, is that when they were trying to get the yardage?

TIGER WOODS: No, they were trying to determine how far I needed to be when I dropped the ball from the grandstands not impeding my line of sight because if I would have dropped where they originally said it would have been not the spot to drop.

So I needed a complete line of sight, then one plus one from there and a second club length. Then I had a cart path situation and then I got relief from the cart path.

Q. Did you actually take the drop to get it in play and then do line of sight and then cart path, or was it just two?

TIGER WOODS: We did line of sight and then drop it, then I was on the path.

Q. So just two drops?

TIGER WOODS: Two drops, yeah.

Q. What did Jason Gore say to you at the end?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I can't really say it in here. We were having a good time with it.

Q. Can you dumb it down for us?

TIGER WOODS: No (laughter).

Q. Did Paul say anything?

TIGER WOODS: No, he wasn't really happy at the time.

Q. Is that much of a concern that it was like a half an hour break between your second and third shot?

TIGER WOODS: No, it was not a concern at all. I was just happy that it wasn't out of bounds and I was actually playing 3 instead of playing 4 from where I played my second shot.

Q. How chaotic was it walking through all those people?

TIGER WOODS: Trying to figure out what was going on. And you've got cameras all over your face and people yelling and screaming, then you had the rules officials trying to figure it out because we're getting so many conflicting stories of what was going on and trying to understand one cameraman seeing one thing, another cameraman seeing another thing, one spectator saying one thing, a locker room attendant saying another thing.

We were trying to decide what was true and what wasn't true.

Q. Aside from 18, just about your day today, you really seemed to be locked in again?

TIGER WOODS: I hit it well today. It was nice. I did some great work last night on the range to fix a couple things from yesterday's round and then came out today and really hit it well and really controlled my flight today.

I made some putts early, didn't make anything in the middle of the round, kept lipping them out. But overall very pleased with the way I hit it today.

Q. What's the weirdest place before this that you had hit it in a competitive situation?

TIGER WOODS: Well, at the Byron Nelson I actually hit it into a Port a John, but it wasn't in in (laughter). The gentleman happened to open the door at the wrong time, but it didn't go in in. It was nice. It was just in.

Q. Did you take relief (laughter)?

TIGER WOODS: That's a good one.

CHRIS REIMER: Why don't we go through your clubs here. You started out on 10.

TIGER WOODS: 10, I hit a 3 wood and a 9 iron to about eight feet, made that.

11, I hit a 3 wood and an 8 iron to about 15 feet right of the hole.

12, I hit a 6 iron to about ten feet.

13, I hit a driver and a sand wedge to about eight feet.

1, I hit a 5 wood and a 9 iron to about 15 feet.

2, I hit a driver and a 3 iron to about 40 feet, two putted.

4, I hit a driver and an 8 iron to about 12 feet.

And then No. 9.

Q. Have you played much better than this say in the last five or six weeks? Is this as good as it's been for you?

TIGER WOODS: I probably hit the ball a little bit better at the British, but I feel like I'm putting better now.

Q. What did you have to fix at the range?

TIGER WOODS: My body positions weren't quite what they needed to be through the golf ball. I didn't quite have my angles where I needed to have it, so consequently I kept spinning the golf ball yesterday instead of hitting it with a proper trajectory.

Q. How long did you spend out there?

TIGER WOODS: About an hour.

Q. At the Byron Nelson, how long ago was that?

TIGER WOODS: That was actually when I was an amateur.

Q. What did you get, a par out of it?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it was a par 5, No. 16. So that would be like '94. I think I was like 17.

Q. When you actually took the shot after the drop, I'm sure you've been in situations like that before, but is it unusual actually having people looking at you when you're having to hit over them? You're used to people looking at you, but you're used to having to clear people to get it over the grandstand and in?

TIGER WOODS: That's the whole idea of line of sight, you don't have to go over them. It's not like something I haven't done before. I've done that before once or twice here and there.

Q. Is there much of a psychological advantage to once you get on top of a leaderboard in a tournament that you've already won four times, do you have an advantage over the rest of the field?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think I feel comfortable here, and any time you feel comfortable at a golf course, you're always going to feel confident. You know, there's certain golf courses where certain guys just feel like they really play well there.

My good buddy Mark O'Meara has won five times at Pebble Beach. I think he feels pretty comfortable there. They say like Freddie always plays well at Riviera, and I happen to have some high finishes here.

Q. Did you meet Brett Wetterich today? Just checking.

TIGER WOODS: I did, on the range, yes.

Q. What did you think of him?

TIGER WOODS: He's a good guy.

Q. Did you get his autograph at all?

TIGER WOODS: No, I didn't ask.

Q. What caused that second shot on 9 to fly like it did? Was it the lie? Did you just catch it pure?

TIGER WOODS: I was trying to hit it was a lie that might jump but I didn't think it was going to jump. But because it was in the rough, I'm trying to hit some kind of highball so obviously I'm shelling out before the golf ball, and I'm sure I got some grass in there trying to loft the ball up over those trees. I'm sure it fired on the grooves and just went.

Q. How far do you figure the ball did go then?

TIGER WOODS: Stevie figured probably 212 in the air.

Q. That's a career 9 iron.

TIGER WOODS: That's a long one, yes (laughter).

Q. I want to go back to the second. 84 was your yardage. I guess I'm not still clear how they determined it was 84 yards

TIGER WOODS: No idea. Don't ask me.

Q. They just came and told you?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah.

Q. Now, they had to find the spot from the hole to where you dropped, and they used a range finder for that?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know I don't know how they did it because they were saying it was from where the ball ended up to the flag and then on the arc from there. So I don't know how they determined it was maybe just walking parallel from the flag, go out to the side, walk it parallel from there, walk it back, and that's how they came up with the number.

Q. Was it difficult to keep your head during that, a 30 minute wait, find the right rule, finding out where to hit from? I know you're overjoyed with the ultimate decision, but prior to that I'm sure did you ever get frustrated?

TIGER WOODS: The one thing I was frustrated with was I didn't know if the ball was out of bounds or not. If the ball was out of bounds, then I'm going back and I'm going to have to hit my fourth shot. But it wasn't, so you could take as long as you want (laughter). As long as I wasn't out of bounds.

Q. How often have you had someone play through?

TIGER WOODS: I've only had it happen one time out here on Tour. Junior golf it happens a lot more, but out here I've only had it happen one time.

Q. When Jason was in here yesterday he talked at pretty great length about your junior days, talked about a round you guys played at Hacienda Heights where he saw you blow an iron near a green, hit a cart path, come on the green? He knew at that moment you were sprinkled with magic dust.

TIGER WOODS: Well, that was a good day because if I remember correctly, I made seven straight 3s to start off my day with a par 5 in there. That was a nice start. I think I shot 62 that day.

Q. He didn't mention that.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, that was nice. Southern California Amateur in '94.

Q. Is it magic dust?

TIGER WOODS: It's just luck. That was a lucky break because that ball should have been I remember the shot because it hit the path and caught the lip on the path and ended up on the green where I had a putt at it. It should have been in a spot where I'm hoping to make 4, and I came out with 3.

Q. Was today maybe just a little bit of that same magic dust?

TIGER WOODS: It certainly was a lucky break, there's no doubt about that. The ball wasn't out of bounds.

Q. Do you know another clubhouse in the world that isn't out of bounds?

TIGER WOODS: Not that I know of. I mean, I'm sure you can do your research and figure that out.

Q. You have, I think, Davis tomorrow?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know if he's finished yet.

Q. Any thoughts on playing with him on an occasion where he's grinded all year to make the Ryder Cup and then it's gone? Have you ever been in that situation? Not you personally, but playing with someone who can sometimes play better once they're not trying to do something?

TIGER WOODS: Well, this game is usually like that. If you press in this game, generally it doesn't happen for you. I think we've all experienced that before, and I think Davis what he's going through right now might be a touch of that. He can just go out there and just play now and not worry about any kind of consequences other than his finish for this week.

Q. If you're in the same spot tomorrow on 9, will you hit wedge?

TIGER WOODS: I won't be in the same spot (laughter).

CHRIS REIMER: Thanks a lot, Tiger.

End of FastScripts.

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