Q. Tiger was in here earlier today, and essentially made the point, we're talking about
playing down the stretch in a tournament, holding or chasing a lead and clutch shots and said he
doesn't really make bad decisions, just bad swings. Can you talk to that at all, not about him, but
about your own game; when you make a mistake or hit good shots, are they just good swings or are they
good decisions, which one is it weighted more toward?
VIJAY SINGH: Hitting good shots or bad shots?
Q. Let's go bad ones.
VIJAY SINGH: I think it has more to do with swing, I would say. Because you always -- your
body is charged up.
Down the stretch, a guy who has better rhythm is going to play well. Your rhythm gets out of hand
and takes a golf swing; that's what happens most of the time. Your mind is very color and more
focused than ever, whether you come out of shots and get quick, yank it, do things like that. When
you are really swinging well and not really thinking about the golf swing -- and that also depends if
you're working on something. If you're working on a golf swing the whole week and playing well and at
the same time working on a golf swing, then you make mistakes.
Because you have a caddy as well;
so you always make the right decisions. The swing is all yours.
Q. Can you think of any tournaments that you felt like you've lost, was yours to win and you
didn't win, that is attributed to a bad decision rather than a bad swing?
VIJAY SINGH: I don't know, there have been so many. (Laughs).
It would be more bad clubbing -- I don't know if you call that a decision or not. Because once
we pick up a club from the bag, that's the decision you're going to go with and you've got to trust it
and hit it and if it comes out 15 yards short or goes over the green, what do you call that? You have
to might a good swing on it but it's bad clubbing. There's a lot of factors involved in a decision
like that. Last week at Bay Hill, the first ten holes, I picked six wrong clubs and that wasn't
-- I wanted to do that; it just happened. A little breeze back, a little into, and just said we'll go
with this one. Although, with the pins being high, you don't want to pitch the ball pin-high last
week. So those were all missed clubbing, I would put it under. It wasn't bad decisions. It was just
bad clubbing.
Q. I know golf's an individual sport and each one of you has your open things to worry about
and not other players, but just asking you because this guy's year is so interesting. Phil Mickelson,
when you watch the things he does and the scores he posts, to come off after a layoff and win, then
miss cuts by a mile, and then almost win Bay Hill and make strange decisions down the stretch, is he
more unusual than anybody in the locker room?
VIJAY SINGH: I don't know what goes in his mind, but he is a very aggressive player. He
sometimes takes shots that are not called for, like the one on 16. But he was in a better position to
make the decision -- I was on the green and didn't know what the hell he was doing. (Laughter). I
was worried about my own game.
But if you look back and say, well that was a bad decision -- but if he had made a good swing and
pulls off the shot and ends up the green, it's a good decision.
Depends on his thinking and he's the best guy to ask the question. Whatever I say will contradict
whatever he says.
Q. Not specifically that, but his results seem to be more dramatically high or low than
anybody out here?
VIJAY SINGH: He's been inconsistent, missed three cuts, come back and then almost win another
golf tournament. He's got so much ability that he's able to come out and do things like that. I
don't know. I just -- I don't know what to say about that.
Q. So much, obviously, is made of Tiger and how well he's been the last few years, is it
possible a lot of players go into a tournament as confident as they may be, but still thinking he's
the favorite? What's your mindset? Do you come in thinking that you're the favorite? I know you can
only worry about yourself but is there always -- is Tiger always looming in a tournament like this?
VIJAY SINGH: You always wonder what the top guys may be doing, it may be Tiger, it may be
Phil.
You look at Ernie right now. Going into Bay Hill, I played with him at first, and you know he was
on a run and you kind of know that he was going to play well and not going to mess up as bad, and he
was almost in the lead.
I go into a tournament thinking about how I'm playing and not worrying about what everyone is
doing. But once you get going -- I like to look at leaderboards. So I'm always, you know, looking
at leaderboards. So that's the way I play. I'm not worried about other people's game. I'm also, you
know, want to know what they are doing.
Q. Tiger or Ernie --?
VIJAY SINGH: No. I played with Ernie.
Q. Do you feel that he is got things pretty together now?
VIJAY SINGH: But Bay Hill, Tiger, he's won it the last two years and now this is the third time
he's won it. So if you go into a tournament playing, winning two years in a row, you're going to
have a lot of confidence, that's probably what pulled it off for him is that he's won; he's got so
much confidence going on that golf course. From what I heard, he didn't hit it very straight but he
managed to come out in front.
Q. One last question about Augusta. The 18th hole, the recent years has not held the players'
fear going into as the 72nd hole. Do you think that could change the way the hole finishes off the
tournament?
VIJAY SINGH: Most definitely. I mean, you've got to hit a good drive now, otherwise -- I hit a
drive on 18 that was probably -- the whole fairway is 30 yards wide. I probably hit it 20 yards from
the right rough, or right tree line, or right edge of the fairway, whatever you want to call it. But
I had to almost play the ball five, six yards to see the green. It was not a straightforward hole.
If to be on the right edge of the fairway, you've almost got to slice the ball around to get the green
and you're doing it with a longer club, which is easier, but still a very, very difficult shot.
The tee shot is so demanding now that whoever is playing it has to hit the fairway and has to hit
it fairly long to be able to be comfortably having a good look at the green. Otherwise, you'll have
to move the ball around. Come Sunday afternoon, with the pin over the top left, that's going to be a
tough one to make par at if you need a par to win -- exactly, par to win.
Now you've got 16, 17, which is no gimmee anymore, and 18. Those holes, it's going to play like
the Masters should play.
Q. Does it make it more or equally exciting -- the way you're describing the hole than, say,
what O'Meara did a few years ago by birdie, par, birdie, birdie?
VIJAY SINGH: It's not going to be birdie, par, birdie, birdie. (Laughter).
15, okay, it's still playing the same. But 18 especially, if you make -- if somebody gave me
four pars now, I would say, okay, I won't play that hole; that's 18, because I think it's one of the
tougher holes on the golf course.
Q. Do you think we could still see dramatic late movement, not with birdies, but with guys
coming back?
VIJAY SINGH: Most definitely. 17 is, I would say, one of the most demanding driving holes
there, especially now. It used to be you could bail out left, as well, but those greens have grown a
lot over the years. It's no more a regulation par hole -- you could hit a good drive and the green
is not an easy green to hit to or putt on.
Q. Is the movement, instead of seeing birdies on those holes, will you see guys making bogeys
on these holes?
VIJAY SINGH: Probably bogeys more than birdies. I think that 18, like I say, there will be more
bogeys there than pars, I think. So coming down the stretch, I think there will be more mistakes made
on those holes.
Q. How difficult is it going to be to block out 14 from last year this week? You played it
pretty well today, I believe. Is it something that's easy to block out?
VIJAY SINGH: Well, I went it back to 14 that week. I had a week off after and I probably hit 100
balls on that tee, and I just stood there and just kept on hitting. I wanted to know why the hell it
went left. (Laughter.) And I could not hit a ball left even if I tried it was just one of those
things. Like I said, coming down the stretch, you make bad swings.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thanks a lot.
End of FastScripts....
