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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 17, 2007

Tiger Woods

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

Q. How do you deal with a round with divots, putts not going in, ballmarks?
TIGER WOODS: It's frustrating. That's just the way it is. At least I know I played better today. I had a chance to probably shoot 3- or 4-under par today. I just didn't do it. At least I turned it around from yesterday.

Q. Do you have a theory as to why these putts are not falling?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, my posture. Posture was not very good. Stevie spotted something and the last couple holes, I hit some really good putts.

Q. Are you surprised shooting even par you gained ground?
TIGER WOODS: Very surprised. I thought the lead would go lower than what it was. But, hey, this golf course, if you miss a fairway here, it's almost an auto bogey.

Q. Even-par 70 today, how hard was it to stay patient?
TIGER WOODS: That's just the way it is sometimes. It is frustrating and certainly it day was. But I hung in there and gave myself a chance going into tomorrow.

Q. The changes to the golf course, with the addition of the longer rough, maybe this is a major-championship feel, even par, you climb the leaderboard, does that add to the major-championship feel?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it's really weird, this golf course changes so fast. We've had three different golf courses to play. Yesterday the greens felt like you had to make the stroke Arnold had to make in the old days, it felt so slow and so grainy and all of the sudden you come out here today and they are dried out and scalped down a little bit lower and all of the sudden they are running out. Got to make an adjustment.

Q. Problems with speed?
TIGER WOODS: I had them on line, but I couldn't start the ball online because my posture was a little messed up. Once I figured that out -- well, actually Stevie figured it out, hit a couple good putts on last two holes.

Q. When did he figure that out?
TIGER WOODS: 16. A little late, but -- (laughter) it's just an old habit I usually creep into. It's all right, though.

Q. Surprised the leaders came back?
TIGER WOODS: I'm surprised. I thought the lead would be 9 or 10 today. But you know, you miss the fairways here, it's almost like an automatic bogey. You just have to get the ball in play here. The greens have picked up a little bit of pace. They are totally different from where they were yesterday and just a little bit faster from the first day.
So I'm sure all of the players are going to have to make those adjustments, and of the guys did, like Vijay did.

Q. One round of three you're happy with, and you're still in the hunt, are you happy with that?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, ecstatic actually. The way I played yesterday, I really shouldn't be in the hunt. But today the way I played, I feel like I should be right next to the lead. If a couple of those putts just go in, it's a whole different ballgame.
Right now I'm only four or five back, so good, solid round tomorrow, you never know.

Q. Balance yourself last night with a run?
TIGER WOODS: Oh, yeah.

Q. How far did you go?
TIGER WOODS: Not that far, just five and a half. Not too bad.

Q. When you start out, given the conditions, it almost looked like even par would be a pretty good score. At what point do you change back to, a couple under would be a good score?
TIGER WOODS: You know, starting out, once we got a feel for how the golf course is going to play the first three or four holes, I just knew that most scores were going to be had out there today and if you could shoot a round under par, I felt like I was not going to lose any ground to any of the guys. Shot even par and actually gained. Surprised by that a little bit.

Q. Five and a half miles, how fast?
TIGER WOODS: I had a pace setter out there, my boy, Taz, was pacing me, so we did.

Q. Fresh legs.
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, we did about 7:15. Not flying, but I'm a little fatter, little overweight. I'll get those times down again.

Q. You mentioned how competitive Vaughn Taylor is, where would you rate him among the intense golfers out here?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, he's quiet but he's a little fiery. He's lose it every now and then which is good, good to see. I'm not the only one.

Q. How hard is it to play when you're running hot? Is it sometimes good?
TIGER WOODS: I think if you know how to channel it and you use that energy and channel it to positive energy, it's great. But if you use it and then it brings your game down, well, that's not something that you want to have happen.
But a lot of times, I will get angry on purpose to get myself fired up and focused for the next one.

Q. Do you have to push early tomorrow, or do you have to just kind of see how everything is going?
TIGER WOODS: It's important that I shoot under par on both nines and just go about a steady round of golf and not really put myself in a whole bunch of trouble.
The way the golf course is playing, hopefully the greens will be just as fast tomorrow. I saw some of the dots for tomorrow, they are going to be tough as usual, but hopefully they will still have the speed in them, they won't water them and they will have a little bit of spring to them.

Q. What do you think of the Florida Swing being beefed up even without THE PLAYERS Championship, a lot of players are commenting that it's pretty strong.
TIGER WOODS: Fantastic. I think this is the way golf should be. I've always been a big believer if you play a great tournament, you should maybe get to double digits as a winning score. I don't like tournaments where you have to shoot 30-under par to win. Not my cup of tea.

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