MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2001

Tiger Woods

TIGER WOODS: Well, I didn't start off 4-over par. I played a little bit better yesterday. It was a lot easier 70 than it was in '97, '97 going 40-30, it is not exactly an ideal way to shoot 70.

TIGER WOODS: I think I took advantage of situations I had out there. I hit good shots and I made some putts today. Even though I 3-putted twice, I really made my share of putts today. I think one of the reasons why I kept a lot of the putts below the hole, with my approach shots, and that's one of the keys to playing this golf course well, is that if you have an opportunity to keep it below the hole, you're going to have to try and get it in there and I was able to do that.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think that one of the things that makes these greens so difficult is they are pretty grainy. With the grain kind of going with the slopes, it just accentuates some of the break that you have. Some of the putts that I knew today were downgrain, I tried to play them, obviously a little bit shorter than what I normally would, and they still ran out past the hole. It's just, this golf course, putting on these greens is so demanding because you've got to play so much swing within the putts. You have a simple 10-foot putt and you are playing three feet of break. That's just not normal.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think obviously, you're going to see the guys who are really playing well, probably separate themselves a little bit more than where it is now. With the tougher conditions, that's just generally what happens. With the conditions a little bit more benign, the guys who are playing marginal can get away with shots and get away with misses. The conditions getting more and more difficult, that won't be the case.

TIGER WOODS: I think I've let a couple shots go, but also, I've made my share of birdies, too, and made my share of putts. It all evens out in the end. I'm very pleased at where I'm at. 8-under par, you can't really complain.

TIGER WOODS: No.

TIGER WOODS: I hit wedge. I had just -- Stevie and I were arguing about the shot, the shot to play, and I didn't choose the right one.

TIGER WOODS: I think I looked up there, just because I'm curious. I want to see what's going on out there. You know, to be honest with you, 8-under par is just 8-under par. You know, in a major championship, that's not bad. I know that this weekend, obviously, it is going to get a little more dry, a little more firm. The golf course is going to get more difficult, and it's nice to be in a position where you don't have to go out there and have to shoot something low on a difficult golf course.

TIGER WOODS: The putt on 16, I saw was -- I putted first and I dived it down there and I knew my angle was going to be quicker because I had to throw it up higher on the hill from my angle. I just misjudged it. It's left-to-right, downhill, downgrain and the wind is coming downwind, so it is a quick putt. I ran it by about eight feet. The next one I just blocked. Just a bad putt.

TIGER WOODS: You know, after 16, going to 17, I just wanted to make sure I got back to at least where I was. If I could just get one of them back I would be happy, and to get two back was a bonus, because obviously, with the pin as accessible as it was on 17, if you drove the ball in the fairway, it is a birdie hole. 18, not exactly the easiest pin to get to. I hit a great drive down there and ended up in the rough, but I had an uphill lie, which I could use the back stop behind the hole as a little friend.

TIGER WOODS: I haven't really been here for ten years, so I can't comment on that. (Laughs). From the years I have been here, the only year I have ever seen it as soft was in '95, when I first played. It was raining the first day. I played with Olly, and other than that, this golf course is usually baked out.

TIGER WOODS: If I tried to live off other people's expectations, I don't think I would be at a very, happy guy because I'm not going after the things that I want to accomplish. To me, I think that's the most important thing; that I accomplish the things that I set out to do. It gives me greater satisfaction to do that, but, you know, if you look at it, my expectations of myself are pretty high. So if I can go ahead and accomplish the things that I want to accomplish, I'll be happy.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think with the conditions being as difficult as they could be on the weekend, you could actually see somebody come out of the pack with a good round. If you play a good round, you are obviously going to move up the board a little bit more than you would if the conditions were soft and benign. But it's also nice knowing the fact that you don't have to shoot that to get yourself back in the tournament. Right now, I'm right there in the ball game, and with a great chance on the weekend.

TIGER WOODS: I had 253 to the hole, coming out of the rough there. I choked out on it, just tried to hit a little three-quarter 3-wood and just kind of chip it up there somewhere. As I was coming down on my downswing, I screamed at myself: Don't hit it left. And I did. I raked it across it and hit a little bleeder -- I don't know where it landed but probably landed on the right side and rolled up there. Anything to the right is fine. Just don't pull it. So I did.

TIGER WOODS: I think experience does help. It does make you feel more at ease, because I've been there before. I've won majors and I've lost majors. But more than anything, I've been there before. I know how to control my emotions and I know what to expect, what to feel, and what I'll probably experience coming down the stretch with a chance to win. If you have not been there, it was tough. I was very fortunate the year that I won my first major, I happened to play great and separate myself, so it was a different feeling. Obviously, he's playing great, and my hat is off to him. Hopefully he can continue playing well.

TIGER WOODS: You know, when you are out there playing, to be honest with you, it doesn't really matter who is up on top of the board because you have to execute your golf shots the way you know that you have to - especially around this golf course. If it's -- obviously, if it's the Top-10 players in the world, all bunched up, it really doesn't matter, you still have to hit the golf shots, no matter who is up on top of the board. I know that, and I've experienced that and I go out there with that mindset.

TIGER WOODS: I birdied 3. I hit a 3-iron off the tee. Soft pitching wedge in there to about ten feet below the hole and made that. No. 4, I hit a 5-iron to about 15 feet right of the hole, coming down the slope and made that. Birdied 6. I hit a 7-iron in there to about two feet. Made that. Birdied 8. Hit a driver and a 3-wood up there to about 15 feet. 2-putted. Bogeyed 9. Hit a driver and a pitching wedge behind the hole. Missed the putt coming down and had about a 10-footer for my second putt and missed it. 13, I hit 3-wood off the tee, a 7-iron from 212; that went 225. I hit a good bunker shot up there to about six feet. Made that. 15, hit a good drive down the right side. Hit a 6-iron up there to about 30 feet right of the hole and 2-putted. No. 16, I hit an 8-iron past the hole about 20 feet. Ran it by about eight feet and missed it. 17, I hit a driver and a sand wedge to about four feet and made that. 18, I hit a driver and a sand wedge to about eight feet above the hole and made that.

TIGER WOODS: If I'm playing well, yeah. (Laughs). I think with the conditions drying up and firming up a little bit, I kind of like that, just because I feel like I'm playing -- playing good, and that it does help, knowing the fact that I am playing good. But, you've still got to go out there and do it. I saw the dots for tomorrow. They are not going to be easy. The pins are tucked in the corner. Traditional weekend pins. Some of the pins, you probably can't find, but it's going to be quite a challenge. I'm looking forward to it.

TIGER WOODS: Not on Friday or Saturday. But come Sunday afternoon, that's when it -- yeah, it will be challenging and it will be fun. If I can get myself in position, where I'm there, yeah, that will be great. But there's so much more golf to be played until there is, you know, a jockeying for position coming down the stretch, who is going to win. We have so many more shots we need to play before that happens.

TIGER WOODS: It was 106 to the hole. He was afraid of sand wedge coming in there with too much spin, but I was just going to play a little flat hook in there and try and hook-spin it up there. Stevie wanted me to hit a little wedge and hold it back into the wind and make sure I didn't rip it back off the green, even though the pin was on the middle shelf if you land a sand wedge in there with the wrong spin wrong flight, an up-shooter that ball is coming right back off the green with spin. He wanted to play a little more flat shot. I went ahead and hit it, but I wasn't as comfortable as I needed to feel.

TIGER WOODS: You said a bleeder up? You hit it left, raked it. Yeah, a little bleeder across, left-to-right (Laughter.) Wasn't that hard?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think if they are lengthened, I don't have a problem with that. But I think -- I think what they are going to have to do is if they do lengthen the golf course out substantially, then I think it might be in the best interest to maybe even possibly go back to how it was, with no rough, because now the par 4s are playing like they used to, with the technology improvement. Then it would be interesting to see, with the new trees that they have got out there. Borderline shots would now run into the trees, instead of getting held up, like some of the trees that have been put in now over on 7 would now run into the trees. The trees along 1 on the left, some of the new ones there. It would make the golf course play, I think, how it was intended: Hard and fast.

TIGER WOODS: Depends on the wind. If it is not blowing at all, then probably the longest club I'll probably hit, maybe 7- or 6-iron. That's probably generally going to happen on 11. 11 is a pretty long hole, or even 10.

TIGER WOODS: Thank you.