Top Five Q&A With Tiger Woods At Chambers Bay
With all his poor play of late it only stood to reason that former World Number One Tiger Woods would face some questions about the state of his game when he sat in front of the media at Chambers Bay for the press conference prior to the 2015 U.S. Open.
And he did...
Q. What is the state of your game now and how do you feel like you hit the ball today?
TIGER WOODS: I hit the ball pretty good today. It's getting better every day. I'm starting to get the feel for, more than anything, for this golf course and what I need to do off the tees and where to miss it around the greens to certain pins. And playing some of the back boards. You can't play them all. Because if you use it too much, actually, it can roll off the greens and into the bunkers. So how many of these backboards can you use, I think that's more the thing I'm really learning as I've played this golf course is, yeah, there are places you can't get up and down from. You just can't, unless you make a 20- or 30-footer. But then again, you're obviously firing away from the flag 70, 80 feet sometimes to get the ball close and you can't, which is unlike any other tournament. You hit it pin-high 70 feet away, and next thing you know it ends up right next to the hole. That's the feel of this golf course and trying to understand that to each pin location. I think Joey and I have got a pretty good handle on that now.
Q. So is the challenge -- is the challenge as much now a challenge about swings and mechanics or is it about the devotion that it requires to get back there?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I wouldn't have made the changes if I wasn't devoted to the game of golf and winning golf tournaments. I want to be out here. I want to play. I want to compete, and I want to win. And to me it's so much fun having a chance to win on the back nine on Sunday. There's plenty of times where I haven't gotten it done. But there are also times when I have gotten it done. But you've got to be there. And that's one of the reasons why over the course of my career I've made a few changes here and there in search of becoming a little more consistent to put myself there more often. And we're doing that. This year certainly has been a struggle. But for me to go through what I went through at Torrey and Phoenix, to come back and do what I did at Augusta gave me a lot of confidence going forward.
Q. In respect to major championships, I wonder if you feel the pressure on you, either from within yourself or outside intensifies or eases off the longer you go without having won one and why do you feel that?
TIGER WOODS: I think it feels the same. From my very first one to now, it's the same. I want to win these championships. I love them. I love playing them. My first major was being the Masters and my first U.S. Open at Shinnecock and then obviously the British at St. Andrews. For me it was a pretty good introduction to Major Championship golf, and I've loved it ever since. There's pressure, of course there's pressure. You're trying to win the biggest events against the best fields and that's the fun part.
Q. What do you feel like you have left to accomplish in golf?
TIGER WOODS: More wins.
Q. How important is that to you at this stage in your life?
TIGER WOODS: That's why I'm still playing.