Tiger On Augusta Lengthening, Vol ?

Not the last time he'll be asked this between now and April:

Q. They've changed Augusta again. Does that take care of you? Have you talked about that at all, had any reaction to the lengthening of the golf course?

TIGER WOODS: They're lengthening the golf course every other year it seems like. I can understand why they lengthen it. Also, then again, they want us to hit the same clubs that we used to hit to the holes. Then if that's the case, make the greens as slow as they used to be. The greens are running 12 and 13. They never ran 12 or 13 back in the '60s, '70s, '80s. It just wasn't that way. But hey, we've all got to play it, that's the thing.

Since 2002 when they made the big change, we have yet to see it dry for a tournament. We played the practice rounds this year with it lightning and then all of a sudden it dumped rain again. It'll be interesting to see if we can break par if it stays dry the entire week.

Q. Do you think that's what they want? Are they in the business of protecting par now?

TIGER WOODS: I don't think so, no. They're actually interested in making not just the greens a challenge at Augusta but overall play. Now you have to position your drive, drive it out there with some length, and they brought that back into the game.

Position? Ugh...I can just imagine Hootie reading that and congratulating himself for making guys drive into a 20-25-yard wide area, selected by he and Tom Fazio.