A. Yeah.

JULIUS MASON: We're back over here with a good mike, I think.

Q. Tiger, there's so much talk about your length, but can you talk a little bit on this course about your ability to hit long irons and how important that's going to be considering how tough the tee shots are in length?

A. Right. I think my length is definitely a huge advantage on this golf course because I'm able to hit 2-irons and 3-woods where guys are sometimes having to hit driver. Sluey today hit probably about 4 or 5-drivers when I've been able to hit 3-wood and still hit it past them. So things like that, that's a huge advantage. And I'm able to carry the ball out there and land it softer because I don't have a club that's real hot, like a driver, landing on the ground and running into the rough. So I think with that in mind, that is a huge advantage.

And I've always been a pretty good long-iron player. And I feel very comfortable hitting 2-irons or 3-irons and 3-woods off the tees.

Q. Tiger, can you talk about the birdie on the 17^th?

A. The birdie on 17, it was just-we had 201 to the hole and I hit a 6-iron and just put it long, tried to put it probably in the middle of the green, if not maybe a little towards the pin. I just tried to hit the ball into the middle of the green and leave myself about a 30-footer and tried 2-putt, but got lucky and then made one. It was nice. I made about a 35-footer there. It was just a little downhill left to right. I just tried to get the right speed. And it just kind of went in there.

Q. Tiger, would you describe the condition of the course? Are balls running?

A. The balls are running on the fairways now. They're a little-it's a little slower early in the morning because there's so much moisture because of the trees and the shadows that the sun doesn't get to a lot of spots. Like today on No. 11, I absolutely rifled a 2-iron up into the green and landed above probably about 30 or 40 yards short of the green. It really didn't release. Whereas some of my tee shots have been rolling 30 or 40 yards, if they're out in the sun. So you've just got to be aware of that. Some of the spots are a little slow on the greens, because of the shadows and you just have to understand that and go ahead and adjust for that.

Q. Tiger, today did we see a Tiger Woods that was patient, had a game plan and really executed it?

A. Well, this is a-well, I have to say just-It's a more mature Tiger than you saw last year at this time. I've got more shots. I understand my game. I understand how to hit shots when I'm not really feeling well over the ball, how to get the ball out there and keep it in play. A lot of things like that I never knew how to use and I guess hit shots like that under the gun. And it's just one of those things where over time, you just mature and you learn how to play golf.

And today, yes, I did have a game plan and I did stick to it except for on No. 7. All week I've been hitting driver on that hole. And today since the pin was up front, I wanted to leave myself far enough back where I could spin it, and I hit a 2-iron off the tee. That's the only adjustment I've made all day. Other than that, I've hit the same clubs I've been hitting all week off the tees.

Q. Tiger, could you talk about the second shot you hit on 6? I think it was out of the fairway bunker. Nick Price was very impressed with that shot. And also the second shot at 15? It looked like you had a pretty bad lie down there in the rough.

A. No. 6, I had about-what was it? 2 -- I had 220 to the hole uphill out of a fairway bunker, and I hit 2-iron. And absolutely flushed it. It didn't cut; it didn't draw; it went dead straight. It flew into the back bunker. So it's just one of those things where I hit too good a shot. And unfortunately, it ended up

on the down slope where I had a pretty tough shot. Hit a pretty good bunker shot considering the circumstances. And hit a really good putt. I thought I made the putt but it lipped out of the low edge. Overall, I wasn't too disappointed. It is a par 5 anyway.

So, no big deal.

No. 15, I hit a bad 2-iron off to the right into the rough. And we had 156 to the front, 176 to the hole. And it looked like somebody stepped on my ball. And I said, "Hey, Fluff, did someone step on my ball or not?" You know, it's just one of those things. He said, "I didn't see anybody." It was just one of those things where you just had to play it.

And I hit a really good 6-iron out of there and tried to really hold it. So the rough didn't turn my club over, and it came out perfect. Came out dead straight, underneath the tree. Might have been short; rolled over to the back edge. No big deal. I hit a little 3-wood from there to about a foot. I tapped in for par, which is very satisfactory.

Q. Tiger, every week you guys are asked to create different types of shots for different courses. But on this course, particularly because of all the trees, can you talk a little bit about the need to work the ball both ways; and if you think that's significant, why?

A. Well, off the tees, you really don't need to work the ball either way. But into the greens you have to because sometimes you may have a 150-foot obstacle in your way and you have to go around it. But the way the pins-they set up the pins today, we had to be very careful because they put a lot of them in the corners near some slopes where if you're just a little off, the ball's going to be repelled away from the hole.

And today, I just tried to put the ball in the center of the greens and just take my chances from there. I didn't really try to work the ball into the holes. I was just trying to put the balls where I could have an uphill putt and hopefully try to make a couple of those. But basically, just try to play safe. Because it is tempting knowing that you have a medium iron in there and that's usually the easiest irons to work in to the holes. And if you overwork it, you're making bogey or double.

Q. When all is said and done, do you think this course is going to hold its own against the best players in the world?

A. Hold its own as in even par winning? I don't think so. I think the winning score will probably be under par just because it's perfect out there. The greens are perfect. The fairways are running. And if a guy's hitting the ball well, he's obviously going to have chances of birdie. And since the greens are so perfect, you just need to set the ball on the line. It's going to go in the hole and you start walking. But it's a great thing when the golf course is in such immaculate condition that you hit good shots and you're going to be rewarded. It's a fair golf course. You hit the ball straight off the tees, you're not going to get basically a bad bounce like I did at the U.S. Open and end up in the rough. Here, you get rewarded for good shots and that's all you can expect.

Q. Tiger, do you start thinking about winning after this kind of opening round, and what would it mean?

A. Winning. No, I really don't. I just try to position myself every day. Today I tried to go out and play a good solid round. And tomorrow, the same thing. I just try to give myself a chance going into Sunday. And if I'm there, hopefully I'll win. But I'm not going to put any more pressure on myself because I am near the lead right now. And with three days to go, it's an eternity. Three rounds is a long time. You just have to go out there and hold your own for three more days.

Q. Tiger, I think you assessed the par 3's as being particularly dangerous here. In light of that, how good is 3-under in the par 3's today?

A. To play the par 3's well is always a bonus. But here in particular because these par 3's are so long in which you're hitting mid to long irons on every one, no matter what. You have to be very careful on some of these holes because they bait you into hitting shots into some of these pins because you have a 4- or 5-iron, and those are the easiest irons to work into holes. And you just have to say, "You know what, put the ball in the middle of the green and let's go on about our business." That's what I tried to do today. From there, I actually did a pretty good job of that and I made some putts.

Q. A lot of young kids look up to you, and I think a lot of them would like to know if you do other sports to relax or cross train.

A. Do I relax? I try to with all you here. But no, overall I like to get away from things every once in a while, just kind of go hang out with my friends.

Cross training, yes, I do. I do work out a lot. I have a trainer and we work out pretty hard and just try to stay in shape and basically staying loose because it's one of the games where you have to be very flexible. And my trainer, Keith, and I have really worked on that. It's been very beneficial.

Q. I followed you most of the day and I didn't notice you take out the driver at all. Did I miss a hole where you did or-

A. It was a big doughnut today. I didn't even hit it. I was going to hit it on No. 7 as I said but the pin was up front so there was really no advantage to it. If I missed the ball in the rough I couldn't get to the pin. So I decided to hit 2-iron off the hole and I hit 9-iron out there to about 15 feet and made it for birdie. That's the only hole I would normally hit driver on.

Q. Will that be the plan the rest of the week?

A. It's one of those things you have to play it by ear. If I'm feeling a little frisky and feeling well about my game, there might be a couple of holes where I might hit driver, yeah. But I really don't see the need to. Unless the wind crops up and blows pretty heavily at your face on a couple of holes. Like No. 6, it was dead into my face. Yeah, I would hit driver instead of 3-wood.

Q. Tiger, did you take any particular lessons away from Winged Foot last year?

A. Yeah, I did. I learned that I need to work on my wedge play because last year, I felt I was so uneasy but my wedge play, I didn't feel like laying up (unintelligible) after hitting a bad shot. People saw me be very aggressive on trying to get the ball close to the green. Yeah, because I probably have a better chance of making par from there than I would from 100 yards. So I've been working on my wedge game all year and I'm feeling really good. That helps because now you can pitch out and make par and save pars that way. That's the name of the game.

Q. With this being a course record, do you have any idea how many course records you own now?

A. I wouldn't have a clue. Sorry.

Q. What did you think of the hole placements today? Were they tough?

A. Overall most of the pins were very accessible. If you hit a good shot, you could get to it. A couple of pins were just a little questionable, I thought. Like on 15, that pin up there on the top shelf like that right in the little valley, actually sitting on a crown or if you hit the ball left it's going to roll left, if you hit the ball right it's going to roll right. That's kind of tough. If they want to use a pin, that's the only place they can put it. But overall I thought the pins were very fair. Had to be very precise with your distances. But overall the pins were very flat in that area. Getting to that area is a different story because you have mounds and bunkers and stuff. But in that area about a 4- or 5-foot circle it's relatively flat and that's all you can ask for.

Q. Yesterday we were told here that aside from people who had won majors this year, you had the best, I believe, score or best record in the majors and therefore you would be in the Grand Slam if this held true, even if you didn't win. So I'm wondering in assessing your major play this year, I assume you're not pleased, but could you give us a little bit more detail about how you think about the way you played the majors and what winning here this weekend might do for you?

A. Well, overall this entire year as I've said, I've played really well this entire year. People ask me why am I in a slump. I'm really not in a slump. I've been playing well. I've had six top 4 finishes this year, seven if you count the overseas win in Thailand. That's not bad. So I've been right there. I've been right there in majors. I had a chance at The Masters going into Sunday. Didn't quite fire a low enough round. Had a really good shot at The British Open. Came up one shot short of a play-off. So I've been pretty close to putting it all together and being in the hunt where I could legitimately win. It's about getting the right breaks at the right time. So overall I'm very pleased the way I've played this year in the majors, even though I haven't won. That's the ultimate goal, but you can't beat yourself up over that. I've accepted the fact that I've played well. I've given it everything I've got. I just came up short. And winning this week would definitely be nice. If I could win this week, maybe we could convince the PGA to hold the Grand Slam at Isleworth.

Q. Does it impact you to play with major championship winners, specifically three PGA Championships won between your two playing partners today?

A. Does it influence me? No, because we play totally different games. Now if I was playing with somebody who hit the relatively my length, like Vijay or Phil or Ernie or something like that you could get more of a feel of how the conditions are playing out there. Certain clubs you might use off of tees, get a read off of that. But Ernie and Sluey, those two guy played a totally different game than I play. So it's nice to see-their course management, you understand that they're managing their game but you can't really go off their clubs and get a feel that way.

Q. Tiger, how many putts of 15 feet or more did you make today?

A. Six.

Q. Tiger, along that line, you talk about putting real well in the last month or so. I'm curious what element of the putting has really come around for you and if that maybe was the one piece that kept some of those top 4s from a victory or two?

A. Well, I think-well, that's the reason why I've been finishing in the top 4s and not really getting the victory-I really can't say. But I can say that as a whole I feel so much more comfortable over the ball. I can't really explain why. It's just-as anyone knows who plays this game, putting comes in cycles. You have to ride it when you have the highs and try to get all the slumps as quick as possible. But I think what I've done is I've worked on my putting pretty hard and just tried to get the flow back in my stroke, just feel comfortable setting up over the ball. I haven't really felt comfortable setting up over the ball in a while. And if you don't feel comfortable you're not going to make a very good stroke. I've been just trying to feel my body and trying to get comfortable over the ball and from there go ahead and let it go, let it flow.

Q. You are playing with two former champions. Did you learn anything from them or did they teach you how to win these things?

A. Did I learn anything from them today?

Q. Yeah.

A. You know, I've played with Sluey and Nick before, and you can look at them and the way they play. They're very patient players. They hang in there and they don't go for broke. They just hang in there and plot their way along and just hit a lot of greens, a lot of fairways and give themselves chances. And it was nice to see that again. I've played with Nick at The British Open for three rounds. Unfortunately Saturday was a tough day for all of us, and it was a fun deal but I could understand why he's won so many tournaments and especially the majors, because he just kind of plots his way along.

And same thing with Sluey, he hits a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and just gives himself chances.

Q. Tiger, you won your first professional major by 12 and probably misled some fans, especially fans who were just getting into it-probably because of you-into thinking that you were going to win every one of them. The last six majors, have they, A, taught you how hard it is to win a major, and B, made you all the more impressed by how you won your first there at Augusta?

A. The first part of that question, am I impressed in the way I played in the majors this year? Well, yeah, I am. I know how difficult it is to win a major. I've played in two previous Masters, a couple of U.S. Opens and a couple of British Opens before I turned pro, so I've had some major experience. But it is just one of those things where it's very difficult to have your game peak at the right time. And at Augusta I was fortunate enough to play 63 straight holes where my game was pretty much right on. And it was-trust me it was a lot of fun. But has it taught me how difficult it is to win. It's very difficult. I'm very pleased at the way I've played in the majors this year, in particular. Unfortunately I haven't won one yet, but I've been right there. And that's all you can ask for, just be consistent and give yourself a chance. It's just a matter of time before the breaks start falling your way, make a-hole-out a chip or make a long putt or something like that and squeeze out a victory. And that's what you need.

JULIUS MASON: Tiger Woods, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much.

Q. The card?

A. No. 1 I hit a 2-iron off the tee. I hit an 8-iron right of the green. Chipped it up there to about 12 feet and lipped it out on the low edge.

No. 2 I hit a 3-wood off the tee. A 3-iron from 220 over the green on the right. Chipped it down there to about 2 feet and made that for birdie.

No. 5 I hit a 6-iron to about 15 feet and I made that one for birdie.

No. 6 I hit a 3-wood into the right bunker. Hit a 2-iron to the back left bunker. Blasted out to about 10 feet and lipped it on the low edge again.

No. 7 I hit a 2-iron off the tee. A 9-iron to about 18 feet and I made that one for birdie.

No. 10 I hit a 3-iron off the tee and 9-iron to about 6 feet and made that for birdie.

No. 11 I hit a 3-wood off the tee, hit 2-iron to about 15 yards short of the green. Pitched it up there with my sand wedge to about 4 feet and made that for birdie.

13 I hit a 6-iron right in the middle of the green about 18 feet left of the hole. And I made that one for birdie. 14 I drove it in the right fairway bunker. Hit an 8-iron to the back fringe and from there 3-putted. I missed about a 4-footer for par.

Q. How far was the putt?

A. First putt? It was about 25 feet.

17 I hit a 6-iron to about 35, 30 feet right behind the hole and made that one a little downhill left-to-right. I think that's it.

Q. Par saves?

A. Par saves? No. 3 I buried the ball in the right greenside bunker, blasted out over the green onto the fringe and made about a 15-footer for par there. I think that's about the extent of it. Then a good par on 15 from the right rough off the tee. But that's about it.

Q. What was that putter that you got-that you borrowed?

A. Just Mark's backup, a Ping, Ping Anser 2. People say that's such a dramatic change from what I was using. I grew up putting with an Anser and Anser 2 and all of my Scottie Camerons that I've ever used have been a Newport, which is almost a copy of an Anser-of a Ping Anser. So that hasn't really been that big of change. It's been an almost identical putter, and it's something that I just like the look of.

Is that it? Cool.

JULIUS MASON: Thank you very much.