Quotes of the Week: April 12, 2015

“I feel like I’ve won the tournament. The people, I will never forget that as long as I live … People have a great affection for the people who’ve won here. You can feel it.”

“I worked my ass off. That’s the easiest way to kind of describe it. I worked hard … People would never understand how much work I put into it to come back and do this again. But it was sun up to sun down, and whenever I had free time; if the kids were asleep, I’d still be doing it, and then when they were in school, I’d still be doing it. So it was a lot of work.”

“He’s been a mentor to me, somebody that’s been very helpful, especially around this place, … You think of Ben Crenshaw, you think of Augusta National and the Masters. For this to be kind of the end for him, it’s tough.”

“It’s funny, I had an interview this morning and I said, `Well, all I’ve got to do is go out and win the Par 3 and make a hole-in-one,’ and I make a hole-in-one.” – after making his first-ever hole-in-one at Augusta National.

“I think driving down Magnolia Lane is rejuvenating … It gives me a new energy. It’s exciting, and I think that energy helps me work hard, play hard and focus better and play my best.”

“It’s special. As I said, this tournament means so much to me in so many different ways. We all know what happened in ’97 with my dad’s health, and he was pronounced – well, he was dead at one point earlier that year; came back, and then came here and I won the Masters. To now have come full circle and to have a chance to have my kids out there and be able to share that with them, it’s special.” – on his decision to play the Par 3 Contest with his children

“We look at that periodically, and we are prepared, if necessary, to make changes to the qualifications … the restricting factor to the field size is the amount of daylight hours during early spring. We already push the envelope very closely when we get at or about 100 players. If it regularly got more than that, we would have to do something.” – on the increasing Masters Tournament field

“I take it as I need to improve as a man … I need to get better. And I think over my career, since my rookie season to now, I’ve gotten better. But obviously there’s more room for me to improve as a man.” – after being named one of the Tour’s least popular players in an ESPN survey

“No but that was part of the deal. If I went on the bag with him he would come on stage and sing with us. He is playing in the Deutsche Bank in Boston at the end of the summer, and we are playing in Gillette Stadium in Foxboro the same week.” When asked if he had heard Rory McIlroy sing: “No, but apparently he’s terrible.”

“I don’t think you should ever underestimate him [Tiger Woods] … He’s done things on the golf course that are pretty special. But, you know, just as a golf fan in general, I’m sort of interested to see how he does when he comes back.”

“I can’t confirm that … I’m embarrassed; I just came out of diapers a couple years ago. Let’s see, I was 3, almost 4. So I don’t know, are kids still in diapers at 3? Pull-ups?” – after hearing that Tiger Woods said Spieth was in diapers when Woods won the Masters in 1997

“I miss [Mark O’Meara]. I miss him out here playing practice rounds … You forget, I must have played probably a decade of practice rounds at every major with him. Now he’s 58, so he’s almost 60, so we joked about that.”