What they said: Tiger Woods

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TIGER WOODS: No doubt. To have the stability that I have in my life off the golf course has definitely made me a better person on the golf course.

Q. Looking down the road a little bit further than April, and I asked you this question last year but you weren't able to play in THE PLAYERS. But what is it about that course that's challenged you lately, and do you like the setup in May as opposed to March?

TIGER WOODS: The only time I've played it was in May was that one time, but I enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed the golf course when it played fast. I didn't like it when we had five-inch rough and the fairways were soaked and you'd pick up mud balls. I didn't think that was the way the golf course was designed to be played.

When I really enjoyed playing it was when I was an amateur. It was bone dry in the summertime and the ball was rolling. We had hardly any rough, and every ball ran into those palmetto bushes, which have been taken out now to try and open up the golf course a little bit. I think if they had less rough on that golf course and brought in the pine straw and the pine needles, mis-hit shots -- I remember on 10 or on 1, pull up the left side and run straight into the palmetto pushes. Same thing on 10; if it was a little bit right, it's in the bushes. Now you've got that big rough on the border.

I think the golf course was better when it was faster. I look at the years that I've done well there, it's been the years that it has been fast.

Q. How focused are you on the night before a tournament, and the reason I ask is will you go to the Magic-Celtics game tonight, and what do you think about the Magic's season and their chance to win a title?

TIGER WOODS: Am I going? I'd like to go. We'll see how Sam and Charlie are doing tonight. If everything is good at home, then yeah, I'll probably go.

But as far as the Magic's season, I think they're doing great, considering they lost Jameer for the season, and for them to basically make a run at the No. 1 record in the east is pretty phenomenal.

Q. Has getting every aspect of your game back in order taken about the amount of time that you thought it would take when you came back?

TIGER WOODS: To be honest with you, I think it's taken less time to get my feel back for my game. I thought it would take a little bit longer because I didn't know -- the question mark was to me is how many rounds could I play, so how much golf could I play. Recovering from day-to-day, I didn't know. That's been probably the greatest positive is I've been able to recover from day-to-day and not feel a thing, and therefore I can start working on my feel, and as I said at Doral, it came every day, got a little bit better, got a little bit sharper. You forget certain things, how you play shots and how you think yourself around the golf course.

You wouldn't think that you'd forget, but I made a couple mistakes at the Match Play, firing the ball into the greens, missing the ball on wrong sides, mistakes I don't normally make. But that's just learning, and then applied that at Doral and got a little bit better, and hopefully it'll be even better this week.

Q. You're obviously back playing, but in your mind the standards that you set for yourself, are you not officially back until you win again?

TIGER WOODS: No, I feel like I'm back playing now. I feel like I'm back where I can just go out and play golf, and that's fun. There were so many question marks going into the Match Play and even into Doral, one being Match Play because it is match play and it was my first tournament back, and two, Doral because it was my first stroke-play event, and how could I think my way around the golf course for 72 holes. I hadn't done it. Those are two very positive tournaments. Now I feel like I can just go play golf.

Q. Mr. Palmer suggested to Ishikawa that outside the ropes he should be himself and do other sports maybe. What's your advice to him outside the ropes besides getting a taste of American culture at Hooters or something? What's your advice outside the ropes for him?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think that the most important thing is to find other interests besides golf, other things that you like to do. I think that's always constructive and it's always going to be a positive to help you get away from the game of golf. You don't want to play golf every day. You can think about it every day, but to physically play it every day, I don't think that's always a positive thing, especially at such an early age. I think it's great for him to experience life and grow up and be a teen and do what all teenagers do.

That's something he's going to have to find a way to do, and hopefully he can do that. You don't want to miss those years, because obviously he's not going to go to college, he's not going to experience that life. Now he's in basically the fishbowl, and a lot of people are going to be tugging at him, and I hope he can enjoy being a teen and grow up.

Q. You've won this event five times. Is there something about this course, this venue, that suits your game particularly well, and if so, what is it?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I don't know. I think certain golf courses -- if you look at my record, certain golf courses kind of fit my eye, and this is one of them. I've played well here, and it probably goes back to when I played here in the U.S. Junior. I liked it then, and obviously it's changed a few times since then, but I still like the sight lines. I still enjoy playing this golf course and seeing it. For some reason I feel comfortable here each and every time I play.

Q. A couple of bigger picture questions about the TOUR, specifically African-American representation on the TOUR. When you were a year old, there were 12 African-Americans on the TOUR. Today, depending on how you define demographics, there's one. From a racial diversity standpoint, the TOUR seems to have gone backwards. What does it mean to you?

TIGER WOODS: I think it's become harder to play out here. Playing opportunities and development and being able to learn the game and mature in the game has become more difficult. If you look at when a lot of those players started, they started through the caddie ranks. That's now gone. A lot of golf courses have golf carts, mandatory golf carts, and players aren't being introduced to the game how they used to.

And then the cost of getting involved in the game, and then the maintenance of a person trying to play day in and day out, it's not easy. You know, you have to get lucky and have people let you on for free at times. Like for instance, I grew up on a par-3 course. That's how I played. And then also I grew up on a military course. Two places where it wasn't very expensive. And then to get the exposure to develop your game, it's just very difficult.

Q. And a follow-up if I could. I've interviewed some people who are coming up behind you, players on the mini-Tours, also Eddie Payton, the golf coach at Jackson State, a historically black school. They look at you and say, he could do so much more for this cause. He could be more accessible, he could be more tangible, he could use his resources and be there and reach out to people like us. What do you say to people like that who criticize?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I reach out each and every day with my foundation. That's what we do. We don't focus on golf, because that's not the sole purpose of life. Life is not about hitting a high draw and a high fade. It's about being a better person each and every day and helping others. That's what life is all about.

Is golf a part of people's lives? Yes, it's part of my life. But it's not the end of all things in my life. I want kids to be able to have a better life because of their brain and their intelligence and their ability to use that to help others, and if they want to play golf, then sure, we have the means to help them through our foundation, but I'd much rather see them become leaders of tomorrow than see kids just hit a high draw and a high fade.

Q. You mentioned the confidence that Harrington has got going for him. What would be the most difficult thing for him to deal with if he's to win a third major in a row?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it's just going to be, one, the expectations, the responsibilities that come with winning two majors in a row, the questions he's going to get asked week in and week out, and it's going to be months. It has been months because obviously the big break between the PGA and the Masters. I remember in 2000 going into 2001, I won three in a row, the time that it took to get from the PGA to the Masters, it just seemed like an eternity because people kept asking questions each and every -- not just each and every week but each and every day about what do you think about Augusta. It could be October.

But that's just something that he's had to deal with. He's had plenty of months to deal with it, and it's just right around the corner now.

Q. The week of the event what's the most difficult thing?

TIGER WOODS: It's a little bit different. You're going to be hosting the media function there, the golf writers, and the questions of the media outlets I think are going to be up a little bit more than it was the last time he played the Masters, being a two-time major championship winner since then. These things, you try and make time for your practice, you try and make time for your workouts, you try and make time for your rest. It just becomes a little bit more difficult.

Q. You just talked about your workouts. I know you were known for your workout regimen before the surgery. How has it changed a what's a typical workout day for you now with all your other responsibilities?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, when I first started trying to get the leg organized, it was two workouts a day every day, seven days a week. But now it's just one workout, which is nice. I don't have to spend as much time. I've done all the work, now it's just a matter of just maintaining the strength and the speed and explosiveness.

Q. You talked about the putt last year, throwing the hat. Could you talk about the shot into 18? It was a nice little piece of shot-making that you were pretty satisfied with. And also talk a little bit about you probably do more creative shot making things than most guys out here. Talk about how important that is for you.

TIGER WOODS: Well, that was the best shot I hit all week. As I said, I hit the tee shot, it was down off the left, I hit 3-wood way down there, and when we were walking up the hill, it totally switched. It came in off the right. Like I was telling Stevie walking down there, we could make birdie and win this tournament because it's down off the left, and it's a pretty easy pin when it's down on the left. In off the right it's different because if you cut it and try to upshoot it, it's not going to get there. If you're riding the wind, now you bring the back bunker into play. I just chipped a little 5-iron in there, and it felt to sweet to hit that little shot, just a little bit left of the hole, right around one of the signs that we had picked out. It landed right on the sign, and I left myself a putt at it.

And as I said, when it's going down left to right, you felt like you could put a ball inside 15 feet. Now with that wind it was going to be a good shot to get inside 20 feet. It would be a hell of a shot. I gave myself a putt at it and made it.

Q. You do a lot more shot-making than most guys, don't you? Do you see that?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I think that's how I grew up. I grew up maneuvering the golf ball. The golf ball doesn't move as much now. It's like Hank and I were talking about this not too long ago actually. The game of golf has changed with the new golf balls where the ball doesn't move from right to left or left to right as much as it used to. So shot making more now is in trajectory control, moving the ball up-and-down, changing your trajectory to control your distances, rather than shaping the ball into the wind like you used to. It just has changed a little bit, and you just have to obviously change with the times.

JOHN BUSH: Tiger, thanks for coming by.