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OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSICFebruary 11, 2011Tiger WoodsDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Q. What was it that made the difference to your 71 yesterday? TIGER WOODS: I hit the ball better today. Felt like I had more control over my shots. More control over my trajectory today. We had some clean greens which was nice, and we hit them perfect this morning, so I think all of us made a few more putts. Q. We heard from Martin and Lee they both enjoyed very much playing together with you as well as the spectators enjoyed having you here. How was it from your point of view? TIGER WOODS: Well, I've played a lot with Lee but I've never played with Martin. This is the first time. Thoroughly enjoyed it. He's a nice kid. You can see why he's been playing well for the last, basically two years, and why he's sitting to high in the World Rankings. He's playing great. Lee is always steady, and it was a fun pairing. Q. You've played some very good rounds of golf on this golf course; how good was that one? TIGER WOODS: It felt good. I felt like I hit the ball a lot better than I did yesterday, and we had some nice greens today, this morning. They were absolutely perfect. I think all of us made a few more putts. Q. What pleased you most about your play today? TIGER WOODS: Just steady. I cleaned up the round. I didn't make as many mistakes as I did yesterday, and I think I hit the ball a little better today. Q. Tell us about playing conditions compared to yesterday afternoon. TIGER WOODS: We didn't have anywhere near as much wind. It was nice. You could make some birdies early. Wind started picking up a little bit on the back nine, but you know, it's warming up, the ball is flying. Yesterday the ball was not flying quite as far as it is today. Q. You've played with Martin Kaymer for the first time, he wasn't at his brilliant best, but you must have been impressed, I'm sure. TIGER WOODS: No doubt. I can see why he's so high in the World Rankings and won so many tournaments. He's playing beautifully. He hit a couple of loose shots, that's about it, but he's very steady. Q. Weather forecast suggests it's going to get very breezy at the weekend; 25, 30 miles an hour. Your thoughts on that? TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I thought it was important today to post a number and get up there, because it's going to be hard to make up shots. We have played here before, I don't think if it's going to be the swirling like a few years ago but if it gets breezy around here with the greens as firm as they are getting it's going to be a little bit of a test. Q. How much are looking forward to the weekend and in the mix as you are? TIGER WOODS: It feels good. As of right now I'm two back so where that is at the end of the day but played myself right back in the tournament. It felt good today. I hit a lot of good shots. We had fresh greens this morning. The greens were absolutely perfect this morning. And we had very little wind -- we didn't have any wind starting out. So you feel like you could shoot 3-, 4-, 5-under par on the front nine, which was the back nine. So I shot 3-under, which was good, and I got it going a little bit on the back nine. Q. Were you happy with your game? TIGER WOODS: Absolutely. I controlled my trajectory a lot better today. I felt like I drove it pretty good but more than anything I really controlled my traj, which was nice. Q. Can you play better than that? TIGER WOODS: Absolutely. Q. Going into the weekend how do you feel? TIGER WOODS: I feel good. We worked out a few of the things last night that I didn't like. Today, went out there and as I said earlier, felt like I really controlled my trajectory well. Going into the weekend with the wind forecast, that's important. Q. How big of a part did what you did on the 18th last night play in how well you did today? TIGER WOODS: I think more than anything it's the fix that I did on the range during the clinic. That helped. (Laughter). Did a little bit of work out there. Obviously it was nice to post an under par round, but I just felt that the two shots I hit down 18 was the way that I know that I can swing, and just tried to build on it on the range and I felt like I did that. Q. So what did you change? What did you find on the range? TIGER WOODS: I found probably four or five things we needed to work on and we worked on them. Q. Did you get the feeling standing on the first tee that it was going to be something like that? TIGER WOODS: I felt that I had to. I didn't have a choice. Felt the golf course was as benign as we are going to see it for the rest of the week and I had to play myself back in the tournament, because it's going to be hard to make up shots this weekend. I don't know if we are going to get the swirling like we did two years ago, but if we get wind here with the greens different this year, with it not having overseed -- they are firmer. So downwind holes are going to be really difficult to get the ball close. Q. You said you'd been working with Sean; where would you put as the way it felt, just the way it felt? TIGER WOODS: It felt much better. Felt a lot better. Q. About as good as it's felt -- TIGER WOODS: Chevron I hit it pretty good. Q. Is it right up there with how you played with Chevron? TIGER WOODS: I probably played better at Chevron actually. Q. Did it feel like the old you though, Tiger? TIGER WOODS: In what way? Q. Well, in terms of posting that number and the way you played? TIGER WOODS: Well, it's been, what, one tournament. As I said, it actually felt good to make some changes and control my trajectory, and that's what's so important, hitting the ball the right distance, you have to do that. And especially going into the weekend, very pleased with that. Q. With Torrey Pines, obviously you came in looking okay and then you had your troubles, how do you avoid a repeat of that? TIGER WOODS: It was good I had that actually. It was nice; it identified some things we needed to work on. And I actually overdid some of the things we were trying to do. And that was good, the fact that I was able to overdo it, which was great; so now we can pull it back a little bit and get it dialed in. Q. Playing with Westwood, obviously the big three, does that kind of get you excited? TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it was nice, because we don't get pairings like this, as I said yesterday. Normally we are always split up. One goes off one nine and one goes off the other; or, it's the opposite end of the draw. 2008 was the last time we got a pairing like this, so it's nice to get a marquis group like this and get out there. I think everyone enjoyed it, he especially us. Q. I saw you talking to Martin and joking a little bit with Lee, at least yesterday, what are you guys chatting about? TIGER WOODS: Lee and I go way back, so we just -- normal chitchat. It was nice to get to know Martin because I didn't really know him. But then again, we are also focussed on our game, so there's not a lot of talking, but more than anything, giving each other the needle pretty good. Q. Does it mean anything to finish top out of the three? TIGER WOODS: Well, the whole idea is to win the golf tournament, not two days. We have two more days to go. Q. If you have to pick one hole today that gave you a lot of pleasure, which one would that be? TIGER WOODS: Probably, I would have to say probably 6. To be able to hold a driver up like that and turn an iron in there to, what, about a foot and a half, two feet. So that was a well-played hole. Q. When you hold a driver up like that, are you longer than you were? TIGER WOODS: Absolutely. Q. By how long? TIGER WOODS: In the air, an easy ten. Q. What did you hit for your second shot of the day? TIGER WOODS: 8-iron. End of FastScripts |
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