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Tiger Woods' AT&T Pebble Beach news conference (1:00:00)

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Tiger Woods is back at an event he once won, playing a course he once dominated, looking for a win, and feeling every bit of 36.

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-Tiger Woods again making his 2012 PGA Tour season debut, and t...

-Tiger Woods again making his 2012 PGA Tour season debut, and there you see Tiger smiling. He did not get a lot of practice in today because the weather was an issue out on the Monterey Peninsula. -The good news is weather is not gonna be an issue apparently the rest of the week. -And it good news. Alright, let's go out to the Monterey Peninsula in here from Tiger Woods. -Okay, we'd like to welcome Tiger Woods into interview room here at the AT&T Pebble Beach national Pro Am. Tiger, welcome back, you're first time at this event since 2002. -Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I think the weather has passed. I think supposed to be a great week from here an up, so I played-- I played spy yesterday and I don't think ever at this dry and this fast. It was nice. It was really nice and looking forward to getting out there in today and, you know, doing little bit of work and getting ready for Thursday. -Making your season debut here on the PGA Tour talking little bit about your off season and stayed with your game right now. -Yeah, I take a little time off and went over to Abu Dhabi for my first event of the year and I played well there and work all the same things, and hoping to keep building in what we're trying to do and I feel that my last-- that my last 4 events have been very positive, 3 stroke, play 1 team event. I think kind of heading the right direction. So, every excited about it. -Okay, we'll go into questions, go right here to Karen. -The last 2 weeks on the PGA Tour have shown us anything that's how hard it can be to play the final round with the lead. You're historically very good as a front runner, why do you think that is? -Once it's hard to win, I think that's what people are-- people, you know, realized it is pretty hard to win out here and being a front runner everyone is kind of chasing you and you have, you know, you're in a position where if you make a few mistakes it's all right because you have those shots to play with, but then again if you opt a poor start early, you can still rectify, but still you send the momentum down the field, and you know, I think throughout my carrier, I've shots some pretty good rounds when I've had the lead. Not too often I think that they all think of-- Not too oven often I've gone over par on the final round when I've had the lead, but that's one of the great things what happened that lead though. you got that koosh, but also it all depends on how many guys are chasing you too. If you got a-- a whole wolf pack behind you or you got, you know, 1 or 2 guys of totally different deal, but I think for me personally, I've always been excited about being in that position, one, I know played well to get there, so I'm just trying to do the same things I did to get there and hopefully will be enough. Okay, right here. -Tiger, just from the Frys Tournament going to the Presidents Cup playing in a few events -Uh huh. How much better is your help, your game, you mindset, everything just from the Frys. -Yeah, just from the Frys alone it's been huge. I've been able to train again. There are 2 different deals, you know, rehabbing and training are 2 totally different scenarios. I've been rehabbing, you know, pretty the entire, you know, last couple of years, and I haven't been able to train. I haven't healthy enough. So, now, I'm healthy enough to do it. I made some huge progress there hence I can do the things that Sean wants me to do my golf swing and I've been able to practice literally all the day I want to for a long time, there is always some kind of limited ball count or I got to get back to treatment. I got to do icing, steaming. I do all those monotonous things just to tee up and do it again the next day. That's no longer the case. So, that's one of the reasons why, I think, I've made such huge progress since the Frys is that I'd be able to-- I'm now training and my body is feeling explosive again, and you know, consequently, I'm hitting the ball further, and I think I'm doing the things that, I said Sean wants me to do. -Bart, on your own. -Tiger, do you have a different approach at age 36 than you did at 26 for example to the game, approach to the game. -Probably, yes, because I think I understand how to get my ball around the golf course better just managing my game better than I did then, and that's just-- and I have more rounds of-- compared of golf under my belt, you know, I'm far better and manage my game now than I was at 26 or I could say 16 versus 26, you know, I keep understanding how to play game. The game has changed a lot. You know, when first came out, we still have a lot of balls, and the ball moved a lot. Some of the guys were still playing for 7, you know, the game has changed so much since I've been out here and we've all had to adapt to that. -Okay. -Tiger, how much, excuse me-- How much of a factor where the course change and reduction field size in your decision to come there and as a sort of related question how different is it to play in this tournament given the celebrity in this whole dynamic of this event. -Yeah, that's not, not, not, not-- well, not reason why I'm coming back. I just haven't played in a while and it's been scheduling just haven't-- I hasn't fit. This time, it fits perfectly in my schedule, so excited to be back, the celebrity part of it. I played. I think I played in a few years, played with Kevin, played with my dad, and I played with-- with Jerry a couple of years. Yeah, it's different. You know, there are distractions. You know, some guys have a gallery clapping when they are putting. It's very interesting sometimes. They can be distracting. There's no doubt, but then again, we play week in and week out and we have played in distractions when, you know, you're in the last few groups. So, just like that for all 4 days. -Jason and then Bob. -Tiger, it's been more than 2 years since your last official victory on the PGA Tour. Do you feel more internal pressure than you did before? -Not, really, no, it's-- I feel very, you know, at peace where I'm at. I had to make some changes and that took time and I'm starting to see the results of that now, which is great, you know, my last 4 events I really played well. So, I'm just building on that and, you know, everything is heading the right direction. -Tiger, here-- -[unk] -What the did final round in Abu Dhabi tell about where your swing is and your game is right now and -Alright. -And anything that you worked on after that, to, you know, specifically, because of they way that round went. -Yeah, actually I was very-- even though I lost, I was very pleased with the way-- that was my bad day of ball striking and it wasn't that bad. I know that stats show that, you know, I had 2 fairways by landing the ball on 8 fairways, ran through it. I think I had stats that I hit 6 greens, but I putted from off the green 4 times plus 10 greens and I just run of the green a lot and so it wasn't that big a deal and I'm hoping that no going forward. That's my bad day. If I can have that as my bad ball striking day, then we're looking pretty good. So, I'm excited about that and the previous 3 days we're very good, and the first day I didn't make many putts, and then the last 3 days, I putted beautifully. Unfortunately, I think you must have a lot of lucks on Sunday. -Steve. -Tiger, going back to the 54-hole thing, do you have any or much recollection of your first one with theory and what that was like when you were, you know, first time that ball is being fired. Whether it was excitement or terror or with emotions all you know, probably all emotions are running through, any funny stories about that day? -Yeah, that's actually part of few actually because number one, I didn't have a card. So, it was big for me to get that card and I needed to finish one that year than I would have gotten 2 years, but I was trying to avoid going to Q-School and, you know, that was a big week for me, and fortunately, I didn't win by learning from it. I was surprised that that, you know, what Ed was doing in the final group. It was just different. So, that a good learning experience for me, and you know, I think that overall that really help me. Finding go through that experiences like what Kyle went through at Torrey. He probably doesn't come back and win. What that allowed me to do is understand to feel the heat at this level and consequently I was able to beat Davis in a playoff and then out last with pain down the stretch at Disney. So, that helped a lot going to that one tournament. It showed me that one, I could there, and then two, where I needed to improve. -Okay, over here. You're getting to an age where for some of us you start going south just a little bit, you know. You notice the signs. -I'm not going-- I'm not touching that one. -Okay, right. -You know, -Oh okay -signs that, you know, that you're not longer 22 years old. -Right. -You know, any signs that you notice in yourself that you're-- that you're aging, you know, you're getting old. -Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean that's it is what it is. I don't recover quite as well. I know that I sore quite often just about everyday when I'm playing with my kids. They are not very tall yet and bending down there and playing with them and building things and coloring and doing all those different things that's pretty low to the ground, so I do get sore, something I don't remember ever being like that, but you know, there are also ways of training. I understand training away better than I've-- now that I did then. Wearing myself out for no reason at all, which we all do when we were younger except to train smarter, practice smarter, yeah, just more knowledge, really. -Alright Brian. -Tiger, have you-- you played with Tony Romo a couple of times in before. Can you just talk about sort of what from your standpoint, what do you think makes him such a good player. Well, he has played. He grew up playing the game of golf and that helps. He is, as we know, he's a hell of an athlete. He can play just by any sports he wants. He just wants those gifts of athletes whatever he picks up he can do. You know, fortunate for him that picked up golf at an early age with his dad and they always played, I mean, they're always playing together off season, and always going on golf vacations together and playing golf all the time. So, understands how to play one and on top of that he can really move the ball, you know, with the training that they do and explosiveness that they have and the strength that he has the type of training that has allowed him to be that par translates to golf and all that they still have played with specially baseball players, majority of hockey players and they can all move the golf ball and they have so much more power than we as golfers do because of the type training and the size that they have and it's cool to see because he's playing form the up tees this week, which would be fun. Yeah, that will be good for us. I know that you guys probably don't know this, but they wanna give him a plus 3 handicap, which is completely yes. I mean, he is a scratch, you know, and I played with scratch at every tournament. I am a scratch. So, but it will be good for him to come out here and play. I know he's competitive and he's been grinding hard. It's been cool to see. He's been calling me quite a bit, sending me videos of his golf swings and what can I do, what can I do, can I do, can I do, can I do, blah, blah, blah. I mean, he's into the game because post golf. I'm sorry post football, I mean, wants to play golf. He wants to, you know, maybe give a run on the mini tours or the senior tour eventually, and he wants to do. He loves it. He loves playing the game of golf, and so that's gonna be fun for us to go out there and tee up together. -Let's go Hank and then Doug. -I just wanna know if Joe asked for the day off so you could go to Giants parade. -Now, you watch on TV. -Do you think you will be rushing Tony at all? -What do you think? -Yeah. -Yeah. Uh huh. -Doug. -Tiger, I have 2 questions, one on the 54-hole lead things. I wonder if you could share some of your recollections from one of your great come backs here in 2000. What you remember about that back 19? And I'm curious if you start the day 5 behind as you did. How much you look and who's leading in this case Matt had never won before and how much become a factor as you setup on the final round? -Well, there were probably a couple of factors going in that final round is that I had been playing well in the previous season and I believe I've won in Kapalua earlier that year and so think for kind of going my way and I was hoping to continue that momentum, get off to a good start, so which I did, and I was looking at Matt. Matt had never won a golf tournament yet at that time and I figured if I could just somehow get within or 2 of him with a few holes to go. That was kind of the goal. So, I figured I had to probably shoot somewhere in 66 or lower to give myself a chance, and you know, when I hole that shot there at 15 and almost hooped at 16. Now, all of a sudden, it was game on. I was kind of on a periphery trying to get in it, trying to get in it. I didn't birdie 14th, so I was just trying to somehow get in it, all of a sudden boomed 3 shots in 2 holes, I'm back in the ball game and I could somehow birdie last one last 2 if not the last 2, then I would put a lot of heat on the who'd never won before, and you know, I'd luckily came out on top, but then again, he learned from it and came right back. The next year, I blame it on 1 -2 years later -Yeah. -Secondly. Given the kind of start and stat nature of the last couple of years with your help, with your swing and everything else -Uh huh. -What was the value of the start of your season give that you took 2 months off from competition and competing again, got back right back to where you were when you last left? -Yeah, that's what exciting is because before the breaks that I had-- I was forced to take off I didn't go into those breaks feeling good, but where my game was. I was still making the changes, so trying to get healthy, and was never really there. This time was different. You know, I came out of it healthy. I went into it healthy, went into playing well and was able to build on it over the break, took 2 weeks off after the world challenge, then touch a club and then that wrap back into it and then boomed almost won a golf tournament. So, things are progressing. -Okay. if you're right here in the middle, right here in the-- -Tiger, the win at Chevron looking back especially the fashion in which you won -Uh huh. -Sitting here today, how-- looking back with the jump start you have for 2012. -Yeah, that was big for me because I hadn't won in a while and it, you know, to do it with the way I did against Zach because Zach was gonna go away. He's one of those guys just feisty, you know, he's always gonna stay there and, you know, like the shoddy play here at 14 was just incredible, off the green, little pitch shot, little cut spinner on top of that, I mean, it was-- People had no idea how phenomenal shot that was and to pull that off put huge heat on me. I didn't birdie 16, he did. He's got the lead and now he's in control. So, to come back in the last couple of holes and do what I did felt really good because I had it done to me the previous. You know, Graeme went ahead the same thing to me. So, it felt good and if we're kind of reverse it. -Stef, anything. -Tiger, there was an announcement yesterday that the USGA and R&A are re-looking/reexamining implementing rule out law anchoring, as you know, belly putters, chest putter. What-- -Uh huh. -Do you think anchoring the club confers an unfair advantage, which you ever used a belly putter and do think that being able to putt without anchoring is fundamental part of the game. -I've never been a fan of it. I believe it's the art of controlling the body and club and swing, the pendulum motion. I believe that's how it should be played. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to that. I have talked to Peter about this, Peter Dawson, for a number of years and gone back and forth with how we can word it. My idea was to have it so that putter-- that the putter would be equal to or less than the shortest club in your bag, and I think that would be able to get away from any type of belling anchoring. You can still anchor the putter like Bernhard Langer did, you know, against the forearm, but still that's still the art of swinging the club too at the same time, but I think you can get away from the belly or the long putter by the that type of wording whether or not they or do it or not and the Peters looked into it for number of years trying to get it to work and do you actually measure everybody's sand wedge and putter before you go and play. That's all thank you. -Jim and then Steve. -Tiger, right here in the middle. -Yeah. -For so long, for large chunks in your career you made the game look much easier than it had right to be. Given these injuries and the things you've gone through these last several years, -Uh huh. -Do you appreciate the game more? -I appreciate being healthy more. I think you're-- I think when we're all younger it feels more bulletproof or invulnerable in that sense because we heal so much faster, you know, and that's no longer the case. The more we age, the less-- the more time we need to heal. So, let's, you know, try not to get hurt and on top of that throughout all my years of playing is that I have proven to myself I can play, hurt, as well as injured. So, that's kind of double edged sword because I can go out there and play like I did at the 08 Open not feel my best, but still won a golf tournament. So, where's the line of demarcation do I draw between injury and pain because I have proven to myself that I can do both. I can win through both and that's where I've always-- I've struggled in the past with that because I don't know where that line is because I can be successful either way. -On the golf part of it, just a simple act of going at your range and you're hitting balls and played in the tournament again, all the things associated with golf. -Uh huh. -Is there a greater appreciation given all the things you've gone through? -No, I think it's more fun now than it used to be because, you know, now my kids are becoming at an age now that they want to see daddy on TV and, you know, Daddy, are going to a golf tournament? Are you gonna be on TV? And so I have to play well or daddy, can you please play well? So, that to me-- it's-- I get more satisfaction of that part of my life now. So, golf is more enjoyable than I used to be for sure. -Few more, Steve. -I'm working on the story on the 7th hole with Pebble, can you tell me-- Do you like the hole and what makes it special? -I love it when it's calm. I played it calm. I played in awful condition and so, I'm in 1 year I think the year O'Meara and I were playing together Mark had 4 iron and I had 5 iron that hole, a lot of fun. So, when you got throw of, you know, 4 or 5 iron out over the ocean with little bit of a cut and hopefully it comes back. It's not, not real comforting. Obviously, you know, you saw it here in 1992 open on Sunday [unk] nobody could throw the ball out far enough to the right because they are just afraid it's not gonna come back, but you'd have to. For such a little hole, you feel like you should birdie it 3 to 4 days when there's no wind. It's just a wedge, but when it starts howling like that, it gets it gets dicey. -Okay, right here. -Tiger, going from the greens that you played obviously in Abu Dhabi to the ones that are here it's got to be a pretty big change. -Uh huh. -Can you talk about going from really fast greens like you saw there to the plan ha you talk about going from really fast greens like you saw there to the plan are you gonna plan here. Do you make any changes to your equipment, your mental approach? How do you plan the greens to this level? -Yeah, Abu Dhabi, you know, was actually were-- they're pretty grainy. They are quick for grainy. So they are very so much of what we putt in Florida all the time. So that, you know, that wasn't as bigger change. Coming out here is a bigger change. I mean it's, but also then, again, this is how I grow up. I grow grew up in Palo. I grow up popping the ball and getting it rolling and having it bounce a little bit here there, but that's what I grow up and I feel very comfortable coming out here, and I think I've had, you know, my share of success on-- on Palo greens just that fact that I grow up on it, and early in my carrier, I didn't have a lot success in Bermuda greens because I hadn't played them enough. One of the reasons why I moved to Florida to get accustomed to playing Bermuda each and everyday and see green, but come out here and pop in it. It's second nature. My stroke does change. I don't want it to chance, but it does. It reverts back to how it was when I was a kid and how I putt and it's worked out, but as far as equipment changes, no. I don't change anything. -Jason and Todd for one more in the back. -Tiger, you headed to schedule this event to your schedule this year. There has been rumor of you that the Honda Classic as well. Can you tell us anything about the upcoming schedule? -Playing in the Future I just don't know one yet. Do I help you with this? -Not at all. -Okay, cool, here to help. -Right, in the back right there. -Tiger, coming back to the bay area and Northern California, is it a homecoming for you for you and what are some of your favorite holes to play when you come back here. -Well, I, you know, we didn't really come down here a lot in college. I did the play the State Am here 1 year, but we didn't, but we're looking down here a couple of times to play when I was in college. We played a lot in the Bay Area itself where there's like Merced or SF Club, Olympic, Menlow or, you know, at home at Stanford. So, coming down here and all the teams coming down, so it will be fun to see road down there and the guys and some of my old all college friends are still any Bay area, they're gonna come down and watch. -Some of those Bay Area courses that you mentioned, what some of your favorites or some of the holes that you can talk of when you played in college. I have to say that I truly love playing SF Club, and I was a-- I think it's just a great golf course. The bunker is beautiful and very similar to obviously Riv and, but the Olympics always been hard. That's a hard golf course especially when, you know, we got to play qualifiers and coach did not care if it was raining or not and that the course was closed we're playing. So, going out there on Mondays-- Every Monday, we're there play Lake Merced or SF or Olympic. Those are rotation every Monday. So, going out there and he didn't because it was closed. So, he didn't care go out there and we play and driving rain, raining sideways as you know can be cold rather qualifying, but I certainly got an appreciation by playing, you know, those golf courses for sure. -Okay, so one more right there. -Tiger, you've been credited with inspiring so many other players to play golf and now 15 years later these guys have grown up, and they are now on this tour, and there're guys who've learned how to take care of himself and they are athletes -Uh huh. -That might have been playing another sports had they not been inspired. So, has they come back and beaten you a little it that you've inspired so many guys? -Well, when I first came out here I was the only guy in the gym, there is nobody else, and then it was Vijay. We are the only 2. We see each other each and every week. Well, he played every week. So, the weeks I played with him would be the only ones on the gym, and now, everybody is in the gym. They all have their own personal trainer that travels with them or they have a program that they follow. They game is way more athletic. Now, we're getting guys who grow up doing other sports who transition in the golf, and that's what I was saying, you know, throughout my carrier. So, one day, we're gonna get a guy that is gonna be like a Bo Jackson, is gonna be like a Michael Jordan. They're gonna that explosive and that good, but decide to play golf. That was gonna be pretty cool. I mean we have pretty darn good athlete down here in DJ who can dunk the ball, but what happens when he get you get like one of those truly superior athletes come out here and decides to play golf and devout himself and has the mental aspects or acuity to play. That's when it's gonna be really cool to see. You know, I'll be shrimping down the fairway and trying to, you know, do it a different way, you know, I'll be the Corey Pavin of that generation. So, I'll be doing a different way, but you know, the cool thing about the game is that you can do it so many different ways. You don't have to be a power player and you can hit it shorter and still get the ball on the hole. You just have to be more efficient and, you know, for instance we always thought that Augusta was set for big bombers and play the par 5 as well. Well, Zach Johnson proved they are wrong and he went for par 5 in 2, played them 12 under for the week and won the tournament. So, there are different ways of doing it and that's the neat thing about the game is that you look at the winners this year, I think, Kyle is the only long guy, you know, of the winners so far this year. So, there are so many ways of getting the ball in the hole. -Tiger, we appreciate your time. Play well this week -Thanks guys, appreciate it. Have a good night. -A relatively revealing Tiger Woods. He's been that way over the last few months in press conferences and often sparking some laughs in the media center. Interesting comments coming out at Tiger Woods' press conferences throughout the last few months and today, well, he talked about having no internal pressure. He says he's at piece with his body and mind, a revealing thing for me Charlie is the fact that he said that he has been talking with Peter Dawson who is the chief executive of the R&A and of course the R&A works with the USGA and executive director Mike Davis to establish the rules of golf on how word a new rule to eliminate anchoring a putter to his body. That was pretty interesting to hear as well. Did something stand out to you in that press conference? -I also thought that the anchoring of the putter comment was very interesting and not surprising when the best putters in the history of the game, not everyone -With the conventional putter-- -With the conventional putter won everyone else to do it the way that he does it, but I just really got a sense and he used that phrase that he's at peace and he was very relaxed. I think it was one of the most revealing press conferences that we've seen from Tiger Woods, and then he was very happy to answer questions in depth without being guarded, without having the writers there have to come and prod and trying to get somewhere. He was very at ease. -Is that speak to his peace in his mind and-- -I think it does. The other that is very helpful is the fact that it's raining. There's no practice here and maybe he wasn't in a hurry like he is always in a hurry, but really it was a nice bit of information that I think we got from Tiger in so man areas. I thought it was revealing when you talk about that fact that there is a big difference between rehabbing and training. Obviously training, very important to Tiger Woods. He said when he first came out on Tour, he was the only one in the gyms and now you can't get space in the gym, but Tiger essentially for the last 3 years has been rehabbing, and now he is able to train and because he is able to train that has allowed him to do things in the golf swing that Sean Foley is teaching him to do, so very good progress there from Tiger in the regards to the physical progress that he has made and so many other things in there as well. I like questions that came about, are you feeling old at 36? He talked about, yeah, I get little sore when I'm playing with my kids. Old Tiger Woods would never admit to getting sore, a lot of really good stuff in there. -Yeah, another light moment was the fact that of course he has played with Tony Romo and Joe LaCava who is caddie -Uh huh. -is a huge, huge New York Giants fan and the fact that he is going to be giving Tony Romo a bit of a [unk] after his giants won. He also talked about his last performance and that coming at Abu Dhabi in the European Tour when he was in contention in that final group with Robert Rock and he shot a 72 in that final round. Here's what Tiger had to say about what he learned in that final round. -What did the final round in Abu Dhabi tell you about where your swing is and your game is right now and anything that you work on after that to, you know, specifically because of the way that round went? -Yeah, actually I was very-- even though I lost, I was very pleased with the way-- that was my bad day of ball striking and it wasn't that bad. I know that stats show that, you know, I had 2 fairways by landing the ball on 8 fairways, ran through it. I think I had stats that I hit 6 greens, but I putted from off the green 4 times plus 10 greens and I just run off the green a lot and so it wasn't that big a deal and I'm hoping that no going forward. That's my bad day. If I can have that as my bad ball striking day, then we're looking pretty good. So, I'm excited about that and the previous 3 days we're very good, and the first day I didn't make many putts, and then the last 3 days, I putted beautifully. Unfortunately, I think you must have a lot of lucks on Sunday. -We showed you earlier in our show 1997 when Tiger Woods lost to friend, Mark O'Meara, by 1 shot and he's tied second at this event. He said, "Finishing second sucks." And you heard what he had to say about finishing third at Abu Dhabi after that 72 on Sunday. What does that say about Tiger Woods then compared to Tiger Woods of today? -Well, first of all, there's no place for truth in this game. I mean, you-- you have to constantly lie to yourself essentially, I think, in-- in this game, but 2 very different places in his career. The first instance of not being please with second, obviously fighting again on top of the game. Now trying to reestablish himself. So, in very different places obviously. One of the things that I thought that was most interesting was Tiger Woods talking about his performance in Abu Dhabi and that he nailed his stats from the final day. The stats show the final round in Abu Dhabi when he shot 72 and lost that golf tournament showed that he hit 2 fairways. He-- He knows that he actually had the ball land in the fairway another 6 times and it rolled out. So, in his mind, he says I actually hit 8 fairways the same with greens and regulation. He said the stats showed that I hit 6 greens in regulation, but I actually putted from the fringe on 4 other occasions. So, in his mind, he hit 10 degrees in regulation. Absolutely in his defense. What he did that day, I think, was turn to 76 or 77 into a 72. That was his bad day. Unfortunately for him, it came in the final round, something we haven't historically been accustomed to seeing Tiger Woods do, but the fact of the matter is he hung in there. Gave himself a chance coming that finish when he wasn't spot on, so that was very important. He knows that now he-- he can even on a bad day keep it around even par, keep the bad round low, limit the damage. Very, very important in this game. Tiger Woods knows that more than anyone that plays the game. -Well, speak to the viewers who may not understand it like you understand it because you played on the PGA Tour and that is something that Tiger Woods has been able to do successfully throughout his career and that is pretty much throughout his career and that is play poorly well. -Uh-huh. -What is that? -Well, I-- I think the expectation that most fans have with the game at a player even like Tiger Woods plays nearly flawless perfect golf all the time. That's far from the case. So many times you go out, you just don't have it. Even Tiger Woods doesn't have it. Jack Nicklaus wouldn't have it-- -Everybody- -on those days. -has a bad day. -Everybody has a bad day, but what you have to do is limit the damage. When you're having a bad day and on a tough golf course, you can still get around it, 1-under par, even par, or 1-over par, 2-under par then you're really making hay because everybody has stretches in tournaments over 72 holes where things click. They have 8, 10, 15 holes that they play 4, 5, 6, 7-under par. The-- The key is you have to preserve those stretches by making sure that your bad stretches aren't so bad. -Uh-huh. -And that's where Tiger Woods saw some progress on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. His bad golf allowed him to stay in the golf tournament. -Yeah, a lot of players have told me that it's just as exciting for them to play poorly well as it is to play well because when you have that bad day, you can still keep things in control. -Well, let me give you a great example. Let's go to basketball. In basketball, anybody can get hot from outside and make 3 pointers. The teams that consistently win and play for championships, they do the basic things very well. Obviously, they play good defense, but they can move the ball inside with the golf the short game and this is why players spent hours and hours and hours of monotony really working on the game from 100 yards an in because what you're doing is you're turning that 75 and do 70 and when it happens you have poured your heart into it. You have poured your soul into it and when you full it off, it is very, very rewarding. It's almost more fun to shoot 70 when you shot to shot 78 then it is to out and put up to 63. -By way, Tiger's swing coach, Sean Foley, was at Torrey Pines when Tiger Woods was making that run in Abu Dhabi and he said a text to me about his play that week and he said, Charlie, Tiger is doing better for sure. His swing and game are coming along nicely. So, he feels good about the way Tiger is playing and I'm sure Tiger in what we saw and in the press conference feels pretty good about the way he's playing right now. Well he should. I mean if you look at Tiger Woods swing what he is doing with the golf club right now. The main thing he had to do with the golf swing is eliminate the stock laid move for the most part that's gone. Occasionally, you see it creep in. When you look at Tiger Woods golf swing and you get a nice view from behind and down the line, what I looked for is where his hands are positioned. If his hands are underneath the golf club at the top of his golf swing and that club is pointing towards the target, you know, he's got a good chances of hitting a good golf shots where he gets in trouble is when those hands are even with the golf club and the club is pointing to the left of the Target or in laid off position. That's when you worry about Tiger Woods a little bit, and when it shows up for the intimidating tee shots in general a long iron, a long 3 wood, a driver -Uh huh. -on a tough driving hole, when you see Tiger in that good position at the top on those difficult holes, you know, it's getting really close to playing some great golf Tom. -And of course, you can see Tiger woods make his 2012 PGA Tour debut right here on Golf Channel beginning Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. You can see it again at 8:30 eastern as well as the same time for Friday. You say this. Fill in the blank here, Charlie. Tiger Woods wins if -If he hits 60% or more of the fairways. -There you go. -That's the number to look for. -Charlie Rymer and Todd Lewis. We thank you for joining us. We're gonna have much more Tuesday of Pebble Beach on Golf Central at 6 p.m. eastern time. We'll see you later.
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Bernhard Langer
Corey Pavin
Zach Johnson
Tiger Woods
PGA Tour
Tony Romo
European Tour
New York Giants
golf course
Torrey Pines

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