PNC Championship

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Orlando, Florida, USA

The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club

Tiger Woods

Quick Quotes


Q. Talk about some exciting moments, 11 in a row today. -

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, we had a little run there. It was nice. It was fun. When we played the turn, I told Charlie, I said we're going to have to at least birdie out for at least make eight out of the nine on the back nine to have a chance. There were just too many groups that were either tied with us or ahead of us.

And we got on a nice heater, and as you said, we made 11 in a row, and on the last hole, we probably -- we knew on the tee box that we needed three to probably get into a playoff or at least make it interesting for the Dalys' back there. Unfortunately, we didn't chip-in and we didn't make the putts, either.

But it was fun. The goals this week, two things: One, to have fun; and two, no bogeys, and we accomplished both.

Q. If you and Charlie would have won, where would this win rank for you?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it would have a special meaning in my heart for sure, there's no doubt about it, and it still does. The fact that I'm able to have this opportunity this year, even a couple weeks ago we didn't really know whether or not I would be doing this, but here we are. And we had just best time ever, and he and I out there -- I just wish that, like I told you guys yesterday, I wish I could have walked down the fairways with him and been side-by-side with him the entire time like we were last year.

But I did what I could. I was out there fetching Kuch's ball, Cam's ball, my ball, and I was the ball collector and moving balls around (chuckling).

Q. What did you think of Charlie's clutch play, especially down the stretch and also what are the putting contests with you guys after what we saw the last couple days? Must be pretty good.

TIGER WOODS: We always have good contexts at home. Everything we do is competitive. It doesn't matter if it's a putting contest, golf, whether it's playing cards or things like that. There's always -- it's always a competition. That's how I was raised, and our whole family is very, very, very competitive, and we don't like losing.

And so yeah, it was fun. The whole day was a blast and this whole tournament was a blast.

Q. Do you think you got better as you went this week, you personally, your swing, your game, and was adrenaline helping you much in terms of masking the pain?

TIGER WOODS: I wouldn't say "better." I think I had a better sense of my feel of what I could do, the shots I could hit. If you noticed out there, I didn't really play a whole lot of draws. If I did, they were all short irons.

Most of them were just hot cuts or slappy cuts up there, you know, something out there. The hardest part for me was that -- what I saw distance-wise and what I felt on my last look -- I always play by my hands and my last look, it didn't match up a lot of times. I was short. And then a few times, I actually hit it solid and I smoked it over a couple greens.

You know, I've got some work ahead of me.

Q. You talk about having work ahead of you, but getting back to it and having some of that competitive juice flowing again, what did you expect it to be like when you are able to get back out there?

TIGER WOODS: The competitive juices, they are never going to go away. This is my environment. This is what I've done my entire life. I'm just so thankful to be able to have this opportunity to do it again. Earlier this year was not a very good start to the year and it didn't look very good.

But the last few weeks, to push as hard as we have the last seven months with taking no days off and just working our butts off each and every day, and to have this opportunity to be able to play with my son and to have these memories, for us, for both of us, our lifetime, it's worth all the pain.

Q. As long as I've covered you, I've seen in you something that's different than other people, and we've talked about it before; once you have one of those good shots, is it different for you now than it was before, because some of that was almost taken away?

TIGER WOODS: You know, there's two different moments. You know, because obviously when I had my back fusion, I didn't know if I could ever be out here again and do it. This was a totally different deal. This was whether or not I would have a prosthetic or not, and I don't.

So I'm very lucky and very thankful to all of the surgeons and the nurses that have helped me along the line and all my physios. They have pushed me and they have worked on me, and even on my hard, dog days, to get my butt in the gym sometimes, and there are some days I don't want to do it, just to keep pushing me and to keep going. And then there are days when they have to put the reins on me because I want to go and I get the competitive juices going, just like do I on the golf course and I want to hit certain shots.

Charlie was out there telling me a couple times yesterday and today, "Don't hit that shot, you know what that does."

I said, "Just worry about your own game." (Laughter)

The banter back-and-forth, that's what I miss this entire year, I miss being out there with him and going out to Medalist and playing golf and doing all those things. Now that I'll have this opportunity going forward again, just so thankful.

Q. On the note of opportunity, from what you've done in your career, your legacy is set. You've changed the game. With what you've been through this year and your body and what you'll have to continue to go through to get back, what is motivating you to return?

TIGER WOODS: I like competing. As I told you guys in the Bahamas, I'm not going to play a full schedule ever again. I'm going to have to pick-and-choose what events, and even then, my body might not cooperate with that.

So I don't know how many events I'm going to be playing in. And it's going to be up to training sessions, practice sessions, recovery tactics, all those different things to be able to do it. As I said -- protective on it now, and just so thankful to be able to do this again because it didn't look good there for a little about it.

Q. Kuch said, forget the walking, but your swing and game is PGA TOUR-ready now.

TIGER WOODS: No, no, no, no.

Q. You don't agree with that?

TIGER WOODS: I totally disagree. I'm not -- I'm not at that level. I can't compete again these guys right now, no. It's going to take a lot of work to get to where I feel like I can compete at these guys and be at a high level.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
115539-2-1001 2021-12-19 22:50:00 GMT

ASAP sports

tech 129