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PGA
An Interview with Tiger Woods - PGA Champion
88TH PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
August 20, 2006
Final Round
An interview with:
TIGER WOODS
KELLY ELBIN: Ladies and gentlemen, joining us is the 88th
PGA champion, Tiger Woods. This is Tiger's third PGA
Championship victory, and today he becomes the first
player in history to win the PGA Championship twice on the
same course. With his 12th major championship victory in
all, Tiger is now alone in second place on the all time
list behind Jack Nicklaus.
Congratulations on this historic day here at Medinah.
TIGER WOODS: Thanks. It was a special day out there. I
just had one of those magical days on the greens today. I
just felt like if I got the ball anywhere on the green, I
could make it. It's not too often you get days like that,
and I happened to have it on the final round of a major
championship. So it was a really neat feeling to have.
I was just trying to get the ball in the fairway, trying
to get the ball anywhere on the green, and I knew that I
felt like I could make anything. It's a special day on the
greens today, and I just happened to make some nice bombs
early in the front nine to stay ahead.
Luke was right there, Shaun was making a run, Weirsie was
ahead of me making a run. I knew I had to continue making
birdies, and I was able to do it and made a bunch of pars
on the back nine until 17.
KELLY ELBIN: Could you go through the birdies and the one
bogey, please.
TIGER WOODS: No. 1, I hit a 5 wood off the tee and a 7
iron to about 12 feet left of the hole and made that.
5, I hit 3 wood off the tee, a 3 iron to about 40 feet and
two putted.
On 6, I hit a 5 wood off the tee, a 7 iron to about 40
feet and made that.
8, I hit a 7 iron to about, again, 40 feet and made that.
11, I hit a 5 wood off the tee just in the right rough,
hit an 8 iron to about eight feet and made that.
Then on 17, hit a 6 iron in the back bunker and blasted
out to about eight feet and missed it.
Q. At any point were you thinking toward the end about
getting to 20 under or as low as anyone has ever gone in a
major or in any way running up the score?
TIGER WOODS: No, I had I think a four or five shot lead
depending on what hole I was on, and I was trying to make
pars. I knew if I made pars all the way in, Shaun was
running out of holes, and if I parred in I would win. That
was just my mindset, to keep hitting fairways and greens
and lag putt out there and get my speed right. If it
happened to fall in, great, if it didn't, just tap it in,
then move on to the next hole and do the same thing.
Q. Can you just talk a little bit about your emotion off
the first hole and the birdie putt? Did that just kind of
seem to relax you the rest of the way and set the tone for
the rest of the tournament?
TIGER WOODS: Fun to hit the fairway there. I hit three of
probably the worst drives I hit on that hole. Today I
decided to go with 5 wood. It was blowing a little down
off the left at the time. 5 wood would get me where I
would have somewhere around 180 to the hole. That's fine,
just trying to get out of there with a par and move on. I
happened to hit a 7 iron up there to about 12 feet. It was
a pretty simple putt, just had to let it feed down there
and it would fall to the right just a touch. That's
exactly what happened.
I felt like once I took the lead there, if I just played
the holes correctly, played the par 5s well, then there's
no reason why I couldn't maintain the lead.
Q. Congratulations.
TIGER WOODS: Thanks.
Q. Do you feel like you're on the cusp of something here?
You got asked this earlier in the week, but of course you
hadn't won at that point and hadn't tied a tournament
record at that point, three wins in a row and a second
place, and guys are starting to make comparisons to years
gone by. Your competitors are making those comparisons.
TIGER WOODS: That makes me feel old, too (laughter). I
feel like I'm controlling my ball pretty good right now,
and more importantly is I know how to if you compare it to
how I was here in '99 versus how I am now in 2006, just a
better understanding of how to get more out of my round
and how to handle the emotions better. That's just through
seven more years of experience. I've been through a lot in
those seven years.
I've been through a lot of a stretch of events where I've
had to try to handle it, but I feel like mentally I'm so
much better prepared now to handle situations than I was
then. But physically I feel like I'm hitting the ball
extremely well. I have a better understanding of my
mechanics and my putting stroke now, and overall I think
I've made a bunch of strides since the last time I played
here in '99.
Q. So that was a yes?
TIGER WOODS: Yes.
Q. You told us years ago the fact that you'd tape Nicklaus'
records on the wall when you were a kid. Well, you're
approaching him now, become No. 2 in majors. Can you
discuss that, and is that 18 majors now like the big goal
now that you've done everything else?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it's still a long way away. It's not
something I could get next year. You know, as I said, it
took Jack over 20 years to get to his. It's going to take
a career, and I've just got to keep plugging along and
keep trying to win these things.
These are the most fun events to play in, the major
championships. I just thoroughly enjoy coming down the
stretch on the back nine with a chance to win it. That's
why I practice as hard as I do and what I live for. That
to me is the ultimate rush in our sport is on that back
nine on Sunday with a chance to win a major championship.
To answer your question, I've still got a long way to go.
18 is a pretty big number.
Q. On occasion when you would make a mistake and hit it in
the bunker, you still appeared very confident and made
some good saves. Which do you think was your best out of
the sand today, and why are you so good even when the ball
is in the trap?
TIGER WOODS: Well, the bunker shot I hit there at 13 was
by far the best bunker shot, even though I had one on 14.
13, I just felt if I could just make par there, I just
felt that the momentum would be in my favor, and once I
hit that bunker shot I had a good lie, a perfect lie
because when it splashed in, it just barely crawled out
and set up. So I had a great lie. I could fly it onto the
downslope and now it wasn't going to run off. So go ahead
and be committed to it, be aggressive, hit it down there,
and it came out like Stevie said, "that was the best up
and down you made all year." It was a nice time for that,
too.
Q. Some players talked about the greens and said they were
really able to hold them well, and the reason being is
because they're only a few years old and the root
structures hadn't set in there. Wondering what your
opinion on that is.
Also, you said you prefer major championships to be single
digits. Having won at 18 under, do you take that? Is that
okay, too?
TIGER WOODS: I'm never going to say no if I win. No, the
guys are right. The root structure wasn't there, and every
ball is just splashing and bringing up making huge ball
marks. We're bringing up dirt. You're never going to get
balls bouncing on these greens at all, this week, and then
with the rain this week it just made it worse.
You just had the feeling early in the week even when you
played the practice rounds that guys were going to make
some birdies this week. All the par 5s with good drives,
except for 14, so basically three of the four par 5s were
reachable, pretty much for all players. You knew that guys
were going to be bunched up making a bunch of birdies.
Then you had the soft greens, and guys were going to
continue making birdies.
One thing they never got this week is they never got the
greens quick. Even if you had downhill putts you were
never afraid the ball was going to run out. You never were
cautious on a downhill putt, you thought you could still
ram it in there and knock it in there. That's normally not
the case in most majors. But this week it just happened to
be an aberration.
Q. Congratulations, Mate. So you win the British Open with
a 2 iron, you win this with a 5 wood. Is that your sort of
handicap to the field? Secondly, it seems like opponents
never seem to do well against you on a Sunday. Could you
give them some advice?
TIGER WOODS: Second part I'm not going to answer
(laughter). I like the way things are right now.
The way they were at the British Open, I just ran the 2
iron down there. This week was softer. The 5 wood was
pretty handy. I hit my 5 wood farther than my 2 iron. As
Stevie said earlier in the week when we were playing
practice rounds, it fit. If I hit 2 iron this week off the
tees, I couldn't have gotten to the corners, I couldn't
carry the trees on 16, couldn't carry the trees on 11, so
that shot was out. So the 5 wood just was a perfect club
this week.
Plus the par 5s bringing in higher and softer just worked
out great because I can take a lot off of my 5 wood that I
can't take off my 2 iron. I can only hit it one way to try
and get the ball up. The 5 wood I can hit and take 20 or
30 yards off without a problem, and also I can juice it,
as well, and step it up and hit it further. So it was a
nice move having that club in the bag this week.
But I played it basically the same positions I played in
'99, just the ball has changed since '99. The ball is
going a lot further. But I'm basically hitting 3 wood or 5
wood to the same exact spots I hit 3 wood or 2 iron the
last time we played. I basically played it to the same
spots I did last time and accepted that, didn't try and
cut over any of the doglegs with driver. For instance,
today on 5, it was blowing down off the right so I went
with 3 wood off the tee because if I hit driver I would
have to take it over the corner of the trees down there
and I wouldn't have any room. I could run it in a far
bunker so I laid it back. That's basically the way I
played the golf course in '99.
Q. Can you talk about the way you played No. 7 and how
that speaks to your ability to grind out a par when you're
in trouble?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I hit a terrible tee shot there. I spun
it off to the right, and I had no shot but to pitch maybe
just a little bit forward, but basically straight
sideways. I had 254 to the hole, and it was just a choke
down 5 wood and just try and put the ball straight on the
green. I had basically the same exact shots I had
yesterday. Yesterday 259 to the middle of the green, today
I had 254. I had a great visual, just hit the exact same
shot as yesterday, start the ball at the flag and bleed it
into the center of the green. It came out perfect. I had a
nice easy putt. I actually hit a putt that I felt like I
could make.
To grind out a par like that when I could have easily have
hit the ball in the bunker, made a bogey and the momentum
turned, it was a positive par. Consequently I made birdie
at the very next hole and got things running again.
Q. Well played, Tiger. At Hoylake you spoke about the
sense of calmness that you felt all week. A similar
experience this week?
TIGER WOODS: It wasn't as calm. You know, yesterday was a
pretty neat feeling. I hit the ball really good yesterday.
I was pretty calm yesterday. Overall it wasn't the same as
Hoylake, maybe just because I was in contention to win in
a major after my dad passed. It was just a totally
different feeling. I think that had a lot to do with it.
But this week was similar but not quite as good as it was
feeling wise and my emotions. I got riled up a couple
times, got firey, and I can get that way at times. But I
was able to calm myself down and refocus and be committed
on the next shot.
Q. A couple of quick things. If you could just give me
your impressions of Medinah golf course as a golf club and
working with the members here. But first, considering your
success here at Medinah, I was wondering if you were
considering an application?
TIGER WOODS: Well, as far as the first part of your
question, Medinah Country Club is one of the neat places.
I've played here a few times actually, as well as in the
'99 PGA. And 2006 PGA I've come out here with M.J. and
we've played a little bit. I've always loved playing here.
It's a straightforward golf course. We don't get to play
golf courses like this. That's why guys love Charlotte,
love playing at Firestone next week, why guys love playing
Riviera.
These are golf courses that are straightforward, classic
golf courses that are just right in front of you. They're
difficult but they're not tricked up like how most of the
modern golf courses are now. It's a very straightforward
the membership has done a fantastic job of getting
prepared for us and having open arms and just having a
great event this weekend.
Speaking to the second part of your question, I just
received an honorary membership, so it's pretty sweet, I
don't have to pay dues, either (laughter).
Q. Speaking of that, you have five wins now here in
Chicago. Are you as focused when you're away from the golf
course, or are you more comfortable in this area that
helps you stay focused once you're on the course? Do you
assimilate into the neighborhood? What is it that makes
you able to be so focused when you do come here?
TIGER WOODS: You know, that's a great question. I don't
know. I've played well here back in the Western Junior
days. I've played well in the Western Open and then
obviously in the PGA. I don't know what it is about this
area, but I've played well here.
I can't honestly answer your question because I really
don't know. I just feel comfortable here.
Q. Did you have your dog?
TIGER WOODS: My dog was here. We've been training. He's
been running me a little bit. It's been good.
Q. We've become very accustomed to you winning, and
sometimes it's good to take a historic perspective. Can
you tell us what it means to you to go past Ben Hogan, Sam
Snead, Denny Shute, Byron Nelson, Leo Diegel, Paul Runyan,
Vijay Singh, Larry Nelson, Lee Trevino and Jim Barnes as
being the next person to win three PGA Championships? Only
Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen have won more.
TIGER WOODS: That's a pretty elite list. When you go back
to it and as a kid and when you first come out here on
Tour, you're hoping to just win one. I've been very, very
fortunate, to be honest with you. I've been very fortunate
to have my game come together at the right time. I've
played some of my best golf in the PGA. The last time here
as well as Valhalla against Bob May and then here this
week, it's been some of my best golf that I've played, and
it just happened to be in this championship. A list like
that, it really is a dream come true.
Q. Is there a moment where you said sometimes you're
feeling it's magical, everything is on. Do you ever feel
in a way sorry for your opponents, like, "you guys don't
have a chance"?
TIGER WOODS: No (laughter).
Q. Earlier you talked about hitting 2 iron at Hoylake and
5 wood here, and it was kind of jarring both there and
here to see you sometimes 50, 60 yards behind your player
partner who hit driver. You guys all love to blast a
driver. What prompted you to sort of set aside your ego
and realize it's okay to attack a course that way?
TIGER WOODS: Well, Hoylake is different because the
fairways were so fast and I couldn't control a ball that's
going that far. Here most of the holes are doglegged, and
I felt like I couldn't take it up over the corner of the
doglegs and make the ball stop where I wanted it to with
my flight. I felt it was best to play to the corners and
then move on.
There's nothing wrong with playing to the corners because
if you play to the corners, you're going to have at the
most maybe a 6 iron into the green, and that's not a bad
club to have. 6 iron on down, you're still in scoring
range. With the greens being this soft, there's nothing
wrong with being in those spots. Yeah, that's why I put it
right at the corners and just moved on where I didn't have
to curve any tee shots to get it around the corner. I just
played it straight out and straight to the green.
KELLY ELBIN: For the record, Tiger also tied his own 72
hole PGA Championship record relative to par. The record
he set at Valhalla in 2000.
Q. I think we're not able to compare you to anybody else
in the game. A lot of people are already giving you Jack's
record in the majors. But one name that still comes up is
Michael Jordan. I was wondering when you grew up watching
Michael Jordan play basketball, was there something about
him and the way he was able to dust the competition that
made you say, "I want to be like him," or was it somebody
else?
TIGER WOODS: M.J. was amazing, he really was. We were just
playing back home in Florida, he came down and he watched
his son play some AU basketball down there and he played
at Isleworth. We have an indoor basketball hoop in the
clubhouse, so M.J. was in there shooting and showing me
some stuff. M.J. is still M.J. He doesn't do it for an
amount of minutes. He's only about five or ten minutes
now. But the shots he can hit, the fadeaways, the
technique, the release, it's just different.
It was just neat to have him, when I came out on Tour,
basically befriend me and pull me under his wing and say
"this is the way life is going to be out here if you
achieve the things you want to achieve. These are the
things you're going to have to deal with."
To have that kind of friend who's been through it all,
where I could talk to him any time about any subject is
pretty neat. Not too many people have an opportunity like
that, but I was very lucky to have him as a friend because
I grew up admiring him and what he was able to do with his
mind and body and the way he was able to lead.
He was absolutely phenomenal. Then as I got to know him as
a person, it's been even better.
Q. What did you first think when you saw that Luke came
out wearing a red shirt today? And can you recall the last
time anyone wore a red shirt when paired with you on
Sunday at a major?
TIGER WOODS: I don't recall, no. No, sorry. I didn't think
anything of it. I thought it was kind of weird to have a
blue belt with it (laughter).
Q. When you won at St. Andrews last year, you mentioned
your warmup, how crisply you hit the ball, kind of led
into the round. I'm curious if you had a similar
revelation this morning with your putting, on the putting
green?
TIGER WOODS: I did, yeah. I told Hank that I saw what I
did yesterday on 16 on the highlights last night on TV,
and I saw how my putter blade went back, and I didn't like
that very much at all. I rehearsed it a little bit last
night, came out this morning and I just felt like, hey,
this is back to how I putted last well, two weeks ago at
the Buick.
I mean, I just rolled it on the putting green really well,
and then I went on the golf course, and I said just keep
doing the same thing, the same body positions, and just
let her go. If you read them right, they're going to go
in. I just had that feeling today.
I don't have that feeling very often, but it's special
when you can have it in a tournament, and then obviously
have it the entire 18 holes on Sunday of a major.
Q. Walking with you for most of your round today, not all
your tee shots were that accurate. A number of them went
awry. What was most impressive watching you, the shots out
of the rough seemed to be very accurate today. Can you
talk a little bit about that, not only saving par, but
coming up with birdie on a number of shots by being able
to come out of the rough so crisply?
TIGER WOODS: I've had a lot of experience (laughter). I
got a great break there on 11 today. I hit the ball, just
spun it just a little bit to the right, just trying to
hold up to against the wind. I had a lie that was pretty
good but it was really hard underneath, and when the
ground is really hard underneath you can usually get the
full distance out of it. I hit 8 iron out of the rough,
had 164 to the hole, and it just came out perfect.
I was very lucky to have that kind of ground underneath it
because if I didn't, more than likely I'd have to try and
put the ball in the left bunker or front bunker and try
and pitch on and make par, but I had a great lie where I
could try and put the ball on the green, and it came out
great, then had an easy putt. It was about a ball outside
the left, and I knocked it in there.
KELLY ELBIN: For the record, Tiger had 27 putts today.
That was the fewest of the week.
Q. You're now halfway to another Tiger Slam. You talked
about comparing your game today with 1999. I'm curious, do
you feel in this stretch of the last four tournaments
you're playing as well as you did in that stretch of 2000
2001?
TIGER WOODS: Yes. Yes. With that and the experience of
seven years added to that, six, seven years, depending on
what year you're talking about, and understanding how to
get myself around a golf course and how to control things
and all the different shots I've learned since then, yeah,
I feel like things are pretty darn good right now.
Q. When I was out there on the putting green, I found that
Phil Mickelson signed autographs for kids every day all
the time and you seldom did or never did. What's the
reason? And does that mean you don't like kids or you love
golf more than kids?
TIGER WOODS: I sign at the range, but I didn't do it
around the clubhouse, no. There are too many people, and
kids get run over. It actually gets pretty dangerous. We
had a barricade go down this week. It gets a little
dangerous at times.
Q. And a follow up, I know that you will come to China
this November for HSBC Championship. Will you give more
autographs to Chinese kids than last year? I think you did
it once or twice.
TIGER WOODS: Trust me, I did more than that.
Q. I'd appreciate it.
TIGER WOODS: You got it.
Q. You spoke about how it's such a rush for you to be in
contention on the back nine of a major. Is it as big a
rush when you're so firmly in command five shots clear,
four shots clear, as opposed to being tied with someone or
a shot clear?
TIGER WOODS: No, it's just even a better feeling to know
that you're in control at a major championship, and
basically if you just keep playing the way you want to
play, you're going to win it. That's a great feeling
because sometimes if you're tied or one up or one down,
you may play some great golf but it's not good enough,
someone outplays you. I knew if I was far enough ahead, if
I just kept doing what I was doing, the other guys were
running out of holes. They were getting to a point where
it was going to be hard to birdie them all coming in. If I
could do my business in the last group, that was going to
win it.
Q. At what point exactly did you realize either today or
in the past couple days that you would win this
tournament?
TIGER WOODS: Once I got through 17 and hit my tee shot
down 18, I felt I was in control of it. I mean, playing
17, anything could happen. I could put the ball in the
water there. I could be there for a while. That's one of
the reasons why it was a 7 iron shot all day, but I took 6
and made sure I played to the back edge of the green, if
not back bunker or back hill, and took the water out of
play and basically played for a 4 and possibly a 3 if I
made a putt.
That's kind of how I looked at it. If I made bogey there
and Shaun made par at the last made birdie at the last,
I'd still have a three shot lead playing the last hole. I
figured I could handle that. That was my decision making
on 17.
Q. You keep saying you had that feeling today, you were in
that special zone. How do you keep that continuity and
that feeling going into your next tournament?
TIGER WOODS: That's a challenge. It's a challenge for all
of us as players. Sometimes you play great one week and
you don't have it the next. Welcome to golf. But I'm going
to a place that I've had some success at, and I'm looking
forward to going there to Firestone, and it's a World Golf
Championship, another big event, so I'll take the next
couple days off and enjoy this and start firing back up
here probably Wednesday and getting ready.
Q. First of all, congratulations.
TIGER WOODS: Thank you.
Q. I had a question about hole 10, how you played it this
week. Before you've said that all the par 5s were
reachable in two except 14, but you didn't play hole 10
particularly well, and the stroke average came out to be
5.2.
TIGER WOODS: Right.
Q. Can you talk on why that hole was so difficult for you
and the field?
TIGER WOODS: Well, the first day I hit just a terrible 9
iron and ended up making bogey. Today the wind was down
off the right, and I hadn't hit the fairway yet, so I
decided to go with a 3 wood off the tee. If I hit a 3 wood
off the tee today, I could hit 3 wood on because it was
playing short. The wind was down off the right. That's the
approach I took. I tried to hit some kind of holding
fadeup there and keep it in the fairway and I overdid it,
spun it off to the right, put it in the bunker, which was
fine. Tried to lay it up there and knock it on the green
and make a putt.
I figured most of the guys if you look at the board, they
weren't making birdies at 10, especially the back nine on
major championship Sunday. Things get a little bit more
difficult. There's nothing wrong with getting out of there
great to get out of there with 4 but nothing wrong with
getting out of there with 5.
As I said, I had one of those special days on the greens
where I said if I don't hit the ball on the fairway, I can
lay it up and put the ball anywhere on the green and I
feel like I could make it. That's basically how I played
the hole, and I just lipped out on the bottom edge.
Q. I think we all know what the four major championships
mean to you, but I think we're less clear on what the
Ryder Cup means to you. Could you talk about that?
TIGER WOODS: I'm excited. We're excited to go over and
play. We haven't won it in a while, I guess since '99.
Hopefully we can get the job done this time. I don't know
how our team panned out.
Q. No change.
TIGER WOODS: Top 10 stayed the same? Well, then we're
going to have some rookies on the team. I don't know what
Tom is going to do on his picks, but we're excited to get
over there. I've played The K Club a number of times,
being over there right before the British and fishing and
playing golf. If they set it up like they did at the
European Open last year, it'll be a pretty tough setup
because they had the rough extremely high and the scores
weren't very good. We'll see. We're excited about getting
over there and trying to win the Cup and trying to bring
it back home.
Q. Has the Ryder Cup become more important to you in the
last few years?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it's always been important. It's just
that I haven't always played well (laughter). And on top
of that, when I did play well, sometimes the guys just
outplayed me. That's the way it works out in match play,
especially when you have partners. Anything can happen
with those partners because you go out there and you can
shoot a good number and still get beat.
KELLY ELBIN: Tiger Woods, the 88th PGA champion. Thank
you, Tiger.
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