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Tiger hit just five of 14 fairways Thursday, putting an early dent into his title defense.
TIGER WOODS: The greens were pretty slow, and I just had a hard time adjusting.
Q: You hit it pretty good on the range and then the first swing, obviously in the right rough to give you a tough shot into that green. Was it that or was it not getting up and down and taking the bogey?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it's more the getting up-and-down. I didn't want to hit 3-wood there, I wanted to hit 5-wood, and I thought maybe get it down a little bit further, and I was a little uncomfortable with the tee shot and obviously flared a 3-wood. That was a bad commitment on my part.
And from there I compounded the problem by not getting the bunker shot on the green.
Q: How tough is it going to be to make THE TOUR Championship?
TIGER WOODS: Well, got to keep plodding along. Right now -- as of right now -- I'm only five shots back out of that spot. That's not bad. Guys aren't going low at this place because the greens aren't good enough to go low. Obviously there's a couple players that have played well today, but overall, the guys just aren't tearing the place apart.
Q: Putting obviously seems to be difficult.
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I had a hard time getting the speed. I had a hard time hitting the putts hard enough, I really did. I putt a lot on memory, obviously, and it's hard to make myself hit the putts this hard when I know how they used to putt.
Q: You hit one on 5, I think --
TIGER WOODS: I made sure I got it there.
Q: It went over?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, exactly.
Q: And on 9?
TIGER WOODS: I blocked it, just blocked it.
Q: Talk about your approach into 10 and the second shot at 13.
TIGER WOODS: 10 was -- I had an opening to the left edge of the green, and the only hard part was the wind was coming off the right, and that means I had to cut a 9-iron. I didn't know if I could cut it off that lie, but it did. It came out clean, and it cut, and I ended up pin-high, made the putt.
The one on 13, that was a pretty good one right there. I had 202 hole and hit an 8-iron up there pin-high, and I was just trying to land the ball on the front part of the green. It was 174, I believe, to the front, slightly flier lie, skipped the ball up in the air and landed on the front and rolled back there.
Q: Where are you with your swing?
TIGER WOODS: It's the same. A lot of times -- well, today probably a handful of times -- I got caught in between the two takeaways of my old swing and the new swing, and I hit some bad shots. When I get into funky lies, I still have to make the commitment to the new swing. I play a little bit more by feel than hands, but still, I've still got to make a commitment to what I'm doing.
Q: Will this be the most consistent thing you achieve working through this --
TIGER WOODS: Well, I just started at the PGA, and I think I've done a pretty good job of implementing it and meanwhile playing in some big events. It's not easy, it's hard, a lot of work on the range, a lot of work in the room, just trying to make sure I understand it and understand the fixes. I was able to do that today, but unfortunately, I got caught in between some of my old takeaways and as a result, I hit some bad shots.
Q: On 9, that was obviously pretty disappointing because if you make a birdie there, you kind of get a little bit of momentum there, a couple holes you can make birdies on coming up. You wanted 3-iron, you wanted 5-wood?
TIGER WOODS: Well, the wind died down just enough where I had 240 front, and I didn't know if I could clear it. If it would have stayed downwind, I can get a 3-iron to land on the front and roll back there, but I just couldn't. If I miss in the front bunker, that's a tough shot, so Stevie and I -- I asked if I had room behind the green, if it was an easier pitch, and he said, "Yeah, it's not that bad back there; you've got six steps over the flag." So I hit a really sweet shot and unfortunately didn't get up and down.