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OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

February 10, 2011

Tiger Woods

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Q. Needed that, didn't you?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I did. It was one of those days where I fought hard. Unfortunately I got to 2-over par on two different occasions. I was 2-over par early, I got it back, birdieing 10, 11, threw it right away again with a double on 12 and got it back to under par for the day. All in all I think a positive result.

Q. 3-wood at the last?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, 3-wood off the tee and into the green. I had 254 total.

Q. So early on, what was the struggle do you think?
TIGER WOODS: I missed every putt. I mean, I had three easy looks and three bad putts. They were not bad reads. They were just terrible putts. After that for some reason, I settled down and I hit pure putts all day. Unfortunately I just didn't give myself enough looks.

Q. 17; 80 yards?
TIGER WOODS: That was awful. Awful. It's something that I'm still working on technique, and unfortunately sometimes I think about technique instead of feel, that I was supposed to do and one was a perfect example of that.

Q. You struggled on a few of them today?
TIGER WOODS: I did. I did. I actually struggled today with ball flight. My trajectory was not what I wanted on a lot of the shots, and consequently, I could never get a ball pin-high, especially with the winds blowing this hard.

Q. Going into the weekend, how do you feel? Obviously coming off 18 (eagle); do you think you gave yourself a chance?
TIGER WOODS: Oh, no doubt. No doubt. I'm only six back. Tomorrow, we have fresh greens and probably a little bit less wind than what we had this afternoon, so a lot of the guys shot some good numbers this morning, so hopefully I can do the same thing tomorrow morning.

Q. Your impressions of Martin?
TIGER WOODS: Very impressed. You can see why he's won as many tournaments he has over the last 18 months or so. You know, he's very steady. Keeps his emotions in check. He plays some shots. And you know, I was kind of impressed at how far he hits it, because I have not seen him hit a golf ball. I've only seen him on TV and TV doesn't really do justice sometimes. But he can move it out there.

Q. What changed for you putting-wise to go from struggling to hitting it purely?
TIGER WOODS: I have no idea. If I knew, I'd tell you. Just one of those things where I just felt comfortable all of a sudden and boom, I started pouring them.

Q. You didn't change anything?
TIGER WOODS: I didn't change a thing.

Q. 10th green, you suddenly felt --
TIGER WOODS: Actually the putt I made at 6 for birdie and then a big bogey putt at 7, that was nice. And from then on, any putt that I gave myself within that length, I made.

Q. Is the consistency, the consistency the big thing you're fighting? Because you kind of don't know what you're going to do each hole.
TIGER WOODS: Well, I think more than anything it's trajectory control and that's one of the things, you make changes, it's the trajectory. Especially when the wind blows -- if you get a calm day, it's no big deal. Shots that you up-shoot or hit the wrong track, it's no big deal. The ball will be right around pin-high. But if you get wind like this and you don't get the trajectory you want, it's not going to be pin-high.

Q. On the front nine in particular, you looked like you were limping a little bit?
TIGER WOODS: I'm just getting older, man. (Laughter).
Played well. Unfortunately Lee made a mistake at the last but he played solid all day. I think he probably played best of all of us, even though Martin had some shots in there, he played well in streaks. But overall, I think Lee played the best all day.

Q. First thing's first, a fabulous second at the last. Tell us about that one?
TIGER WOODS: Actually it's pretty interesting, as much as I shaped the first one off the tee from right-to-left, I shaped the next one just as much left-to-right. I had 254 to the hole and I had to take something off it, and I threw it up in the air and it was perfect.

Q. Overall how do you feel about your day's play?
TIGER WOODS: It was scratchy. I started out putting awful. And then I didn't really miss a putt after that, if I gave myself a reasonable distance. I struggled with my trajectory control today, was not hitting the ball on the right traj, when you get wind like this, you have to hit the ball on the perfect traj and I didn't do that today.

Q. How good is it to compete and make changes at the same time?
TIGER WOODS: It's hard. It took me awhile when I was with Hank and it took me a while when I was with Butch and it's taking me a while with Sean. I mean, it's hard, and especially when the wind blows. When the wind is not blowing, it's no big deal, anybody can hit the ball, whatever number they want. But when the wind blows, to start shaping shots and you hit the ball on the right traj, it becomes a little more difficult.

Q. Question I'm asked all the time is why does Tiger Woods change his swing when he's so good and such a great player; why do you change it?
TIGER WOODS: Because I know I can become better.

Q. How will it be better when you complete these changes?
TIGER WOODS: It will be more efficient. That's what I went through the same period, why would you change it, back in '97. I didn't play worth a darn for about two years. Then had a nice run there. Then I didn't do anything for a while when I switched to Hank and then had a nice run there and hopefully we'll do the same here.

Q. How much did you enjoy today playing with the top three players in the world in the same group?
TIGER WOODS: We had a blast. The last time I did it was at the 2008 Open with myself, Phil and Adam. It was nice to have these kind of pairings. We don't get a chance to do it very often because usually we are put on other sides of the brackets or other side of the draw, so one gets the afternoon, one gets the morning. So we never get these pairings.
But it's fun when you do have an opportunity to do that.

Q. Thoughts on tomorrow?
TIGER WOODS: Hopefully the wind will be down a little bit and we'll get fresh greens. A lot of scores this morning were low, so hopefully I can do the same thing tomorrow morning.

End of FastScripts

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