What Tiger said Wednesday at the Genesis Invitational
Tiger Woods addressed the media Wednesday at the Genesis Invitational.
Here's some of what he said during the 23-question press conference that followed Woods' 18-hole pro-am round at Riviera Country Club:
Q. I know it's a busy week for you with hosting and with Sun Day Red, but from a golf perspective what would make this week a success?
TW: "A nice W would be nice, right? I haven't ever won this event. I played in this event since '92 and the years I've played I still have never won this event. Hopefully I can figure something out and get myself in there in contention and maybe get a W at the end of the week."
Q. Just wondering if this week elicits memories of the accident a few years back and how much – how would you describe the grind to get back to this point for you has been, to be playing again?
TW: "As far as the accident that happened, I don't really have that much bearing of the history of this event. Do I feel it physically? Yeah, I do. Do I feel it physically? Absolutely, each and every day. Unfortunately that's part of having surgeries and rehab. But I'm excited about this week and I'm excited about competing and playing."
Q. Unrelated, I'm sure you've been asked this once or twice in your career as it relates to Riv, but why haven't you ever won here? What do you think it is about this course that has causes you problems?
TW: "I have traditionally not putted well here. This is a fader's delight, most of the holes are, for a righty, run left to right. I've driven it well here. There are small greens and traditionally throughout my entire career my iron game has been pretty good, but I have never really gotten hot with the putter at this course. Generally they're bumpy poa, so it's been a little bit tricky. For some reason it just has never compiled to a hot week. I had one where I had a chance, I guess Ernie, and hit a foul ball on the last hole. Other than that, I really haven't had that many opportunities for some reason."
Q. Tiger, do you see PIF as having the ability to add further to what you guys want to do in addition to SSG?
TW: "Yeah. Ultimately we would like to have PIF be a part of our tour and a part of our product. Financially, we don't right now, and the monies that they have come to the table with and what we initially had agreed to in the framework agreement, those are all the same numbers. Anything beyond this is going to be obviously over and above. We're in a position right now, hopefully we can make our product better in the short term and long term."
Q. Tiger, two parts here, kind of random one, what's Josh Allen's game like? And two, how did Lance [Bennett] end up on your bag?
TW: "Josh's game, considering what he does for a living and the pounding that he takes on the body, the fact that he's been able to play this game, you can see the enjoyment that he has and the addiction that he has for the game of golf. He asked unbelievable questions today about how he can get better that only athletes really can ask those type of questions. That's what's neat about being able to play with athletes, see how their brain works. We're very similar across the board whether we're playing football or golf or baseball, how we look at things are very consistent.
"As far as Lance is concerned, I've had a great relationship with him over the years going back to when he caddied for Kooch and when we played at the Presidents Cup together back in, what, Muirfield Village. In all the years that we've been on Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups together and the times I've been able to play with him in the same groups. Very down to earth, very loyal and how he conversated through the years, I've also taken notice of that. We've had the same type of feels in how we look at the golf course and how we read putts, they're very similar. I think it's a great -- we're going to be a great team and look forward to the challenge."
Q. From a technical perspective, what are you working on in your swing to make sure it's competition ready?
TW: "I think that more than anything, that I try and do from a technical standpoint is making sure I can still hit the golf ball flush and solid. I don't have the same speed I used to have, I don't have the ability to practice the same amount of hours, but I still do work on making sure that I can hit the ball on the middle of the face. If I can do that consistently, one of the reasons I don't have a choice right now, my body day to day, week to week just looks kind of different. I can't really model myself or fit any kind of model -- a lot of it's my hands and my feel. I built this golf swing the last few years, four, five years based on my hands and what that feels like. What that looks like, I don't -- sometimes it doesn't look pretty, but I can still hit the ball flush."
Q. Some new gear for you so far this week, new prototype Sun Day Red shoes, and it looks like you're testing between the old sim 3-wood and the TaylorMade Qi10 Tour with the new shaft. Curious your thoughts on the shoes and thoughts on the new 3-wood?
TW: "Well, the 3-wood is in play. I feel very comfortable with the 3-wood. I had to find the right shaft for it and decided to switch the shafts and go with what I have on my driver. My 5-wood's different, it's old, a little beat up, but it still works. But the 3-wood, I wanted to find something I could draw a little bit better and this one is definitely that. As far as the shoes go, had to make a slight adjustment yesterday, was putting some nails in for traction. Being at home in Florida and testing in Florida was very different than coming out here and playing off a slope and playing off of wet grass and having the traction I needed. So I put some nails in yesterday and it's been working."
