Tiger Woods - Press Conference

JULIUS MASON: Tiger Woods, ladies and gentlemen, your back-to-back PGA champion at the 82nd PGA Championship.

Tiger, congratulations on another victory. Got a lot of deadlines going on here. If you wouldn't mind giving us some general thoughts.

TIGER WOODS: This was -- it was a one memorable battle today, and I enjoyed it. I am sure Bob did, too. And hopefully all of you here enjoyed the same thing, because it was a very special day, to have two guys playing probably at a level that you don't see unless you have the concentration heightened to where it was at.

We never backed off from one another. And birdie-for-birdie, shot-for-shot, we were going right at each other, and that just as much fun-- as good as it gets right there.

JULIUS MASON: Birdies, bogeys.

TIGER WOODS: I bogeyed 2. I hit a 3-wood off the tee, 4-iron to the right of the green. Chipped over the green and ran the next chip by probably about four feet. Pulled that one.

Bogeyed 6. I hit 2-iron off the tee in the right rough. Hit a pitching wedge -- 9-iron, I am sorry, on right part of the green. Had about 40-footer; left it about six feet short and missed that.

Birdied 7, hit driver off the tee down the left side. I am sorry, tried to hit down the left side ended up being in the right rough. Then I hit a 4-iron short of the green. Pitched it up there to about a foot; made that.

No. 8, hit a little 7-iron about twelve feet behind the hole; made that.

10, driver off the tee, 2-iron in the front bunker, blast today about eight feet; made that.

12, I hit 2-iron off the tee. I hit a 9-iron to about 15 feet below the hole; made that.

14, I hit a 4-iron off the tee, just left of the hole. Rolled down the slope, made about a 15-footer there for birdie.

Made a great save on 15. Hit 2-iron in the right rough, first cut of rough. Hit 8-iron long in the swale, misread the putt; misjudged the slope and had about a 15-footer for par and made that.

Birdied 17. Hit a great drive down the left side of the fairway. Ended up being right in the middle. I had 94 yards to the hole. Hit a 60-degree sand wedge to about two feet. Made that.

And 18, I hit a 3-wood off the tee. Hit 2-iron, landed about two yards short, pin-high in to the right slope. Rolled down into the right shelf and put it up there to about five feet right of the hole, and I made that.

First playoff hole, 16, 2-iron off the tee, 7-iron up there to about 20 feet right of the hole and made that. Two pars on the last two holes.

Q. Could you do yardages on your playoff holes?

TIGER WOODS: I had 108 -- I am sorry, I had 196 on 16. Hit 7-iron, 7-iron up there pin-high. 108 to the front from the right gunch over there. Hit 8-iron over the green, 2-putted from behind the green.

18, hit a great drive about 50 yards left of the fairway. Hit a wonderful 6-iron that was about 10 yards left of the fairway. Hit a good wedge, though, right at the flag. Just ended up short, cut the bank. Had 142 to the ridge, to the shelf, to carry the bunker. I didn't quite carry it. I guess it was another 13 more to the hole so -- 155 to the hole.

And blasted it out to about a foot.

Q. When the tournament started, there was some talk about a lack of history in this golf course. Do you think the things that you and Bob and the other players were able to accomplish this week gives this course some history now?

TIGER WOODS: I think it does. We played probably one of the -- I mean, I think it's got to go down as one of the best duals in the game, in major championships. Granted, there have been some great ones, but I think this one goes up there. Both of us shoot 31 on the back nine on Sunday afternoon with no bogeys. I played the last 12 holes 7-under. That is not too bad.

Q. Can you take me through what was going through your minds on the 15th green, both when you were standing over your putt and when Bob was standing over his?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I was standing over mine; I knew if I had made mine, it would make his putt a little bit longer. I felt if I had missed it, he would make it. That is just kind of the way the flow of the round had been going. If I could somehow dig down deep enough to concentrate and control all my emotions and nerves and bury that putt, I just felt that it make his putt a little bit more interesting, knowing the fact that now if he misses, we walk off all-square on the hole, where he thought he might walk off with 2-shot swing on the same hole.

So, that was big. If I make that -- if I miss, he makes. 3-up with 3 to go. He is looking pretty good.

I stepped up there and just buried it right in the middle of the hole.

Q. Can you talk about the -- No. 7, the birdie you had there, how important that was to get your round jump-started? And obviously, sand saves was supposed to be your weakness, and you go into 18; that seemed to be your favorite bunker. Can you talk about that bunker, as well?

TIGER WOODS: Well, No. 7 was a good birdie. I hit a bad tee shot off the tee; hit it way right. I drew a good enough lie where I could clear the hazard comfortably and play into the right bowl which -- we practice that shot all week down there, because that is where you have to miss it. You can't miss it left there. PGA you figured was going to use the entire left side of green, which they did.

So we just practiced a lot of pitch shots from down there, putting and bump-and-run them, and just found that using a 60-degree sand wedge backspin, probably was the best option. I had it down there. Practicing shot. On the downslope, I figured wouldn't hit it on the upslope; that would be too easy. I have been practicing that. I said, "You have done it in practice. Do it again."

I hit it right up there to about a foot. I felt like my bunker play this year has gotten so much better. It is just that one of the problems I have, and a lot of the longer hitters is that if you drive the ball down there quite a ways, if you have shorter irons, you are going to be spinning the ball, hitting the ball high. And I have a lot of balls buried this year. It has been frustrating -- I have had more balls buried this year than I have had most years.

Today in that bunker. I felt -- that is how kind of how I envisioned it. I had wedge coming out of the rough. I figured, you got to go right at it, because if you go left, I mean, that is a tough, tough putt. If you go right at it, protect it against the flier, if it does fly, it comes out perfect; it is going to land on the shelf and be okay.

If it doesn't, it is going to roll back in the bunker; you've got the easiest bunker shot in golf, straight uphill with a lot of green to work with. That is what I had envisioned and it came out perfect.

Q. Can you talk about your practice on Saturday night? How long you were there and what you worked on?

TIGER WOODS: I didn't leave the golf course -- didn't leave the putting green until 8:56. So, I worked quite a bit. It paid off.

I had worked on my swing and worked on a little bit on my putting, and tried to feel a little more steady over the ball and let the toe of the blade release a little better. Overall, I felt pretty comfortable going into today. I warmed up well and hit a lot of good putts early on in warm-up; didn't carry-over to the golf course initially, but at least I was hitting good, solid shots. Just a matter of time before the putter would come around, and it did.

Q. Can you explain what it is like to win three majors in a row, and also, where does this win rank among your other four majors?

TIGER WOODS: It is hard to say. This, winning three majors in a year, obviously that is very special.

To have your game peak at the right times, that is what you want to have happen. I was fortunate enough to have my game at a pretty good level three of the four majors. Except for the first round on at The Masters, I have played pretty good in the major championships.

It is hard to rank all of these together. They are all different and all unique. This was probably the most exciting one from a player's standpoint. The fact that you are playing at a level that is so high, and knowing that the fact that par is not going to win a hole; you are going to have to make birdie.

On the back nine on Sunday at a major championship, knowing the fact that par is not going to win, that is different. Usually you can just kind of cruise in with pars and win. That wasn't going to be the case today.

Q. Even though you are a different player today, can you compare the emotions, adrenaline rushes, those sorts of things over the final three holes: The magnificent comeback in the Amateur, U.S. Amateur, a few years ago to the --

TIGER WOODS: Well, that was a pretty good comeback. But today -- I felt today was probably more special. If you look at it just because the fact that we both played well at the same time.

In my match against Steve Scott. He played well in the morning; played all right in the afternoon. I played terrible in the morning; played great in the afternoon. We never really timed it to where we were both playing at a high level at the same time.

Today was a different story. We both played great at the same time, and it was just a lot of fun.

Q. With the comeback against Scott, the comeback this year against Matt Gogel, when you are down, do you have a special belief in yourself, or you just sort of blank out everything that is going on and just play the game?

TIGER WOODS: Well, after I had bogeyed No. 6 and actually, Bob bogeyed it as well, and I was only two back. And to have 12 holes, and only two back, that is -- in a major Championship you just need to hang around. You know something is going to happen.

In majors, if you kind of hang around, usually good things happen. Today I knew that. And I birdied -- tried to get -- I tried to get back to even par on the day through nine holes. That was kind of my mini-goal. I was able to do that. Birdie 7 and 8 right there. Back to even par. Now the ballgame is on.

Going into the back nine, we were tied and we will see what happens.

Q. You were trailing most of the day and now you really get down 17 and 18, the last two; your thought process any different at all?

TIGER WOODS: Well, Bob didn't hit a very good drive on 17, and I absolutely ripped one right down the middle of the fairway. He got it on the green somehow. I figured if I could just stuff it in there -- it was just a wonderful number just nice little soft armsy, 60-degree sand wedge, 94 yards. If you are playing well, that is a pretty easy shot, because one, the greens slopes away from you, so if you land it short, it is going to skip to the hole. And if you hit it too far, it slopes towards you, spin back and come right back towards the hole.

So you know, "This is a pretty easy shot," I said, "just relax, trust it, go ahead step up there and hit the shot correctly." And I was able to do that.

Q. I remember you saying at Pebble that it was kind of nice standing on the 18th tee knowing that you had to die, something like that, to not win. Take us through the difference to playing a championship like this, get the putt you get at 18 in regulation, and then take the lead on the first extra hole.

TIGER WOODS: It was two completely different emotions. One, you just needed to just keep your heart going and you'd be all right.

Today, you just knew that you had to execute golf shots, and I knew stepping up on 18 that I had to make birdie to win the championship or force a playoff. Par wasn't going to get it done.

I was able to hit wonderful 3-wood off the tee, just a great 2-iron in there. And if it was just a few yards left, it is stiff, but it rolls down the slope -- I had the harder of the two putts. And Bob hit his putt first, and it didn't hit a very good one; rolled it by on the fringe. And I was just trying to get mine up there, where it was hopefully still dead, but at least I had an easier putt than he did.

But you just had that sense that the way the day has been going, you just have to expect your opponent to make that putt. So, when he made that putt, it really wasn't that big a surprise, because I knew I had to make mine to tie.

So that is kind of the mental preparation for it, to step up there and have to play that ball outside the left from a short distance like that, and know that you have to trust your stroke and the break and stay committed. It feels pretty good.

Q. When you are standing there waiting to hit your second shot on 18, waiting for the green to clear in regulation, there is all this drama and tension in the air. What did you say to Steve that made him crack up right there?

TIGER WOODS: That is a good question. I don't remember.

I am sure it was something smart.

Q. Of all the great shots you hit today by both you and Bob, is there one in particular that you really liked and one of his that you really admired?

TIGER WOODS: I think the one shot that meant the most to me today with everything going on was I had to make that putt at 15. If I missed that putt, he makes his, he is 3-up with 3 to go. I am not looking very good.

And step up there and make a 15-footer for par with everything on the line, that feels pretty good to keep myself in reasonable chance to win the Championship. That was a big putt. He missed his on the high side and Stevie says, walking off the green, he says, "Ballgame is on now."

Q. Every week you play, there are people and there is noise and there is distractions, and you are able to be focused you play golf; you are focused and you win. Was it any different today to keep everybody out? And then secondly. Was it hard to stay -- keep the drama of what was going in out of your mind?

TIGER WOODS: The gallery was very loud, very boisterous. For some reason, I guess there is some kind of incessant need to yell. I don't know what it is that people just need to yell, I don't know why. But you just have to block out as best you can. And people have been doing that to me for a while, so I am more used to it than Bob was.

But still, you still hear it and it still gets kind of loud and rings in your ears a little bit as you go from green to tee. And to get in there and they start yelling at you -- you have to block it out. No matter what you they say. You still have to execute the next golf shot.

Coming down the stretch, I never really was caught up in the drama of it because you are focused in on what you have to do. I mean, you have to execute golf shots. You can't focus on the fact that, oh, well, he made birdie.

I didn't realize I shot 31 on the back nine until the official scorer added up my score. I said, "Well, I did shoot 31." I didn't know that. I just knew that I needed to keep staying in the present. Keep hitting good golf shots.

Q. Is there anything that he did -- and how many times did this happen, if it happened more than once, where you just rolled your eyes and said, "I can't believe he just did that"?

TIGER WOODS: Well, the shot -- I guess two shots. One, the shot on 15 in regulation. The fact that if -- nobody really understood the shot he hit. He hit that ball right of the hole, drew it back in, with the water there. To step up there and hit the ball about eight yards right of the hole and draw it back in up over the water was an impressive shot.

And I saw started out -- I said "Wow, that is a little right." All of a sudden it was drawing back. I said "That was impressive." To stay there and be that committed over the water and drop back, that is a pretty good shot.

Second one was obviously the shot out of the rough in the -- on the first playoff hole. It looked like he didn't have a very good lie. He hit it stoney like that. That was a pretty good shot.

Q. You have just won the PGA. And Augusta is a long way off. We are all inclined to do what we do, which is to parse out the meaning of The Masters next year. What is your view on what you would be trying to accomplish? Is it a Grand Slam in your eyes? What exactly are you going to look at that as?

TIGER WOODS: Trying to win the Masters Championship, a green jacket, I have got one; I'd like to get another one. That is about it.

It is so far away. Even when you get there, I mean, you have heard me say this before, going into the British Open, if I win the Open Championship the way -- hopefully I end up being a winner -- if I end up being a winner, then I will accomplish completing the Grand Slam as a byproduct of it.

If I win The Masters next year, completing the Grand Slam would be a byproduct. I just need to stay focused on what I need to do to get ready for that tournament, and hopefully my game will be ready.

Q. You briefly alluded to it, but you and your putter really started working midway through the round. I think that is what won you the championship. When Bob was in here a little while ago, he said as you were playing junior golf, because of the age differential, you used to go around saying "I am going to break Bob May's records." Would you talk little bit about those two things?

TIGER WOODS: Well, Bob was a wonderful player in junior golf in southern California. He owned most of the records. He was probably one of the best players, if not the best player, to come out of southern California at that time. He went back off to Oklahoma State, and right then they were No. 1 in the country. They were winning all the national championships under Mike Holders (phonetic). For him to go off to that school, obviously you can't be a slouch. He was a pretty good player, and I kind of just wanted to hopefully one day win as many tournaments as he did.

I was able to win a few here and there, but I don't really know if I won as many as Bob did. But today my -- you are right. My putter was pretty good from probably No. 8 on. I made that good putt on 8, and I really hit a lot of good putts coming in. Especially the big ones I needed to make, I was able to pour them right in the hole.

Q. Nicklaus has been your idol for so long. I am wondering if you feel any affinity for Ben Hogan. Especially in light of equaling his three straight majors?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I have a lot of admiration for a lot of great champions that have played the game. Jack just happens to be one of them. He is not the only one.

There have been a lot of great players that have played this great game of golf. And Ben Hogan, he has won so many tournaments, it is scary. Especially after the car accident, to come back and play as well as he did, win three majors in one year. And unfortunately, couldn't get back because of scheduling, the British Open and PGA overlapping, but he was incredible. He played -- played at a level that not too many players could ever attain.

Q. Were you able to see how your drive on 18 in the playoff got to where it was, and if you didn't, did anybody tell you how it --

TIGER WOODS: No, I didn't. No, no one told me.

Q. Your thoughts on playing the first two rounds with Jack and then going on to win?

TIGER WOODS: Well, playing the first two rounds with Jack was wonderful. We had a great time talking with each other. And he was kind of funny. Going down No. 1 on Friday, he says, "Geez, it is loud out here or what. People yelling," he says, "I don't know why people yell so much." Then he says -- we kind of got in the fairway, he says, "You know what, thank God I am done playing. You got to deal with this for the rest of your career."

So thanks, Jack, I appreciate it. But it was pretty cool going down 18th tee box. Walking off I said to him: "Let us finish this off correctly," which meant by making two birdies. Lo and behold, we both made birdie.

Q. I know you always kind of consider yourself a work in progress. In the continuing development, maturation, whatever, of Tiger Woods, what have you learned about yourself today?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I learned that I can hit a lot of good shots. I made some good putts today at the right time, and I have done it before in the past. In Junior Golf and Amateur Golf, I have had to make some pretty good birdies coming down the stretch. I mean, somebody -- I mean, all of you probably don't even know this, but probably one of my best comebacks ever was at the U.S. junior, to win my third time, 2-down to with two to go and went birdie, birdie to force it into extra holes. That is a pretty good comeback, especially at that level since I really didn't know where the ball was going, except forward and a long way.

But to actually play as well as I did today down the stretch is very special, and hopefully, when I look back at the tapes that I will find something that I can -- I already know what I need to work on, but maybe it will be something else.

Q. Talk about the tee shot on 17 in the playoff. Then when you walked to the ball, did you ever for a second think that you weren't going for the green off the cart path?

TIGER WOODS: No. I mean, I saw the gap. And once Stevie came back with a number; that I had -- I only had 108 to the front edge, I know I can keep an 8-iron down for that long. So it was -- I tried to actually play the ball short to the green so I can pitch the entire green. I don't know where the ball carried, I couldn't see it from down where I was, but obviously it rolled over the green somehow. And that is the worst spot to put it, because then you got the steepest slope. On top of that, I ended up being right next to a drain and I had to skirt the drain. When I hit it before -- actually, when I was reading the putt, I was kind of looking at it, I am going to have to hit this extra hard, because it could catch the side of the drain and kick it left, and if it kicks it left, it is going to start going into the grain, because the grain comes off that hill from left-to-right. And if I hit that putt -- and if it goes through it, no big deal; if it goes past the flag 8, 10 footer coming back hopefully I can make that. But you know, step up there and hit it and actually judged it correctly knowing the grain might catch it, kicked it left, started going against the grain from left-to-right and it worked out good.

Q. Are you ever amazed at yourself now after all this, three straight majors coming back to win this, when it looks like you were not playing that well?

TIGER WOODS: I think you look back in hindsight and say how special the day was. I don't know if you can say you were amazed. I didn't really hit any shot that was spectacular. I just hit a lot of good quality shots. So did Bob. We hit a lot of good quality shots and we made some big putts and I think that is what we are both going to look at it and say it was a great day.

Q. You talk repeatedly about peaking for a major. How do you do that? Can you detail that physically and mentally how you prepare to peak at major championships?

TIGER WOODS: Try and hit-- shape shots correctly and going into the major championship and try and get your game so that it is peaking, I mean, you are getting better day by day going into the tournament. You don't want to play your best stuff before the major and that is it. I mean, then you got to try and maintain that. That is the hardest thing to do. This week - going into this week I was getting better day by day and obviously yesterday was probably the worst day I had of the whole week as far as ballstriking goes, I didn't hit a lot of good shots, but I was able to hang around and keep the lead somehow which I don't know how but I was able to keep it. I had a wonderful opportunity today and I hit the ball really well today.

Q. Mentally?

TIGER WOODS: I think you just got to understand what your goal is and how do you attain that goal. That is just from trial and error. I have done it since I was a little boy. When I was a kid winning the Junior World Championship was the ultimate tournament because kids from all over the world-- only time you ever get to play against kids all over the world and I won that six times and then play the U.S. junior that was the ultimate tournament, I won that three in a row; then U.S. am, 3 in a row. You just -- you try and get your game and mind and everything coming together so that it is hard to explain, but the week seems easier, you enjoy it more because it is the challenge of playing a big tournament like that.

Q. Yesterday you fought your swing; then you were 2-over after 6 today and find yourself two shots back. Then you birdied 8 of the next 13 holes. What besides putting that you already talked about, what kicked in there? Is there a heightened sense of concentration that kicks in, a game face, can you talk about that?

TIGER WOODS: Well, Jeff, I really can't say it was -- I mean, I didn't try any harder. I just hit -- I hit good shots even starting out the day, even though I was 2-over, I have only hit two bad shots and that was on -- that cost me two bogeys. But I hit good quality shots the rest of the time so you can't really say geez, my game is not there today and I mean, I drove the ball well; hit good quality irons and just need to hang in there and I was able to do that today.

JULIUS MASON: Tiger Woods is your 82nd PGA Champion, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

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