Tiger's Back (Again), Press Conference Clippings
/Doug Ferguson seizes on Tiger saying he has the itch to play again.
He said he started hitting balls a couple of weeks ago, without giving an exact date, and that he got the itch to start playing soon after. Woods said he thought about playing The Greenbrier Classic last week, but decided to wait a little more.
What gets him excited?
"Trying to beat these boys," Woods said. "That's fun. Getting out there and trying to win golf tournaments, being there with a chance to win, whether you win or fail. Just being there is just a rush, and it's just so much fun. Trying to pull off the shots that you've done in practice when it matters the most, see what you've got. That's fun."
Not for Tiger Woods, who was busting out in equal parts bravado and testosterone Tuesday as he returned to PGA Tour competition.
Same as it forever was?
It took about four minutes before the embattled former No. 1 fielded the bazillion-dollar query that the entire golf world is starved to see answered, since not a soul knows what to expect after a three-month, injury-induced layoff, a 22-month victory drought in the States and more tabloid headlines than anyone not named Murdoch.
"Same as always, hasn't changed, [the] expectation level," he said.
Seriously, other than his stoic single-mindedness, what hasn't changed, brother?
Dave Shedloski on the scene and Tiger's insistence that his health is excellent.
Dressed in black, Woods looked relaxed and fit, but trimmer. He wore prototype Nike shoes that he helped design and a shock of hair on his chin that brought a playfully sinister definition to his familiar wide, toothy smile.
But most importantly of all, he brought a healthy body.
"The great thing is I don't feel a thing. It feels solid, it feels stable, no pain," Woods, 35, said of his leg, which he injured during the third round of the Masters and aggravated at The Players. "One of the reasons why I took as long as I did to come back is that I want to get to this point where I can go ahead and start playing golf again like this. It's been a very long time, and it feels good to go out there today and hit balls like this, go practice and feel nothing and walk around and pretty much do anything I want on the golf course."
How long had it been since he felt this well, physically?
"Years. Years plural," he said.
Jeff Shain on how long the travel agent will be on the bag.
Woods also confirmed that longtime friend Bryon Bell would serve as his caddie both this week and at next week's PGA Championship. Woods fired Steve Williams during the layoff, ending a 12-year working relationship.
"We had a nice conversation," Woods said. "It was a tough conversation, but we said what we needed to say to each other — face to face and man to man."
Williams, who had been moonlighting on Adam Scott's bag during the layoff, now works for Scott full time. Woods said he had no timetable on a replacement, but emphasized that Bell is an "interim" solution.
Steve DiMeglio leads with the caddy change angle and offers this on lingering tension for Tiger and Stevie after the looper's comments following the firing.
"I felt that Stevie and I have had just an amazing run," Woods said. "Steve is a hell of a caddie, there's no denying that. He's helped my career, and I think I've helped his, as well. But I just felt it was time to change things up a little bit.
"I felt very comfortable with the move."
He wasn't as comfortable with Williams' remark about the past two years.
"Well, that's what he says," a terse Woods said, "and what he feels."
Jeff Rude offers a few more details on how the purported disloyalty came about.
It has been reported here that the tipping point came after Williams caddied for Adam Scott during Woods’ hiatus. Williams got initial permission to work for Scott at the U.S. Open, but then the Woods camp is said to have had a change of heart. Apparently Williams pushed Woods too far when teaming with Scott again, this time without consent, at the AT&T National, site of the dismissal.
Bob Harig gets to the heart of what has us all lying awake at night: Tiger's playoff chances.
Although Woods is just getting back to competition, if he intends to play any more on the PGA Tour beyond next week, he will need to qualify for the tour's playoff series. Only the top 125 make the first tournament, the Barclays, and Woods is 133rd, 21 points behind Matt Jones.
A finish of 50th or better in the 76-player field would help Woods squeak into the top 125 with the PGA and the Wyndham Championship as the last qualifying events. To advance, Woods would need to be among the top 100 heading into the Deutsche Bank Championship, the top 70 before the BMW Championship -- where he won his last PGA Tour event in 2009 -- and the top 30 for the Tour Championship, which he missed last year.
Mark Soltau on Tiger's new prototype shoes.
Woods will wear new prototype shoes called NIKE FREE this week. He has been working with Nike to develop the model for nearly a year.
"The Free technology is something I wear every day, and I love training in it, running in it, lifting in it, so why can't I play golf in it?" Woods said. "So eventually we got together and created this shoe, and walking out there on the golf course, it felt good to feel my foot activated, something that I hadn't felt in a long time."
Wow, free shoes, how cool is that!
Stephanie Wei has a roundup of the essential quotes with commentary.
The entire transcript is here.
