PNC CHAMPIONSHIP

December 17, 2023

Tiger Woods

The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. What was your favorite moment of the week?

TIGER WOODS: I think the whole week, to be able to share it with my family. To have both my kids out there the last two days has been so special. Just grateful for us to be able to have these types of experiences, for Charlie and I to have done this for four years in a row now since the start of COVID, to be able to come out here, and for all of us as families to come out and enjoy the week, it's special.

And for me, I haven't seen a lot of these guys because a lot of them are on the Champions Tour and quite frankly I haven't played a lot. So it was nice to catch up with them this week and see all their families.

Q. Going back to the Bahamas and this week, what have you learned about your body and what you're able to do going into next year?

TIGER WOODS: I think that a lot of things are aching a lot more than my ankle, which is the way it goes. I'll be able to walk and play. We've been working out hard, been able to recover. We've been training every day, which is great. It's been nice to knock off a lot of the rust and some of the doubt that I've had because quite frankly I haven't hit a shot that counted in a long time.

So having to post a score and hit shots on the right number, and hit shots with consequence, it's been nice.

Q. Certainly challenging conditions today with the wind. What did that do for you and tell you as far as where you are?

TIGER WOODS: Well, you had to hit a lot of different shots. But at the end of the day, it's a scramble. We get ball-in-hand, and to be able to tee the ball up, this would have been a very different day if we had to play the ball down or we couldn't tee it up and put the ball-in-hand.

I was able to hit a lot of little nifty little shots, like 10, or some of the shots I hit pin-high just because we had ball-in-hand. But the fact that I was able to hit the shots both ways, which was nice.

Q. What's the emotion or reaction to watching the chip-in on 9 with Charlie? What's that like?

TIGER WOODS: It was neat because I was saying earlier to Cara, I was on the high side, so I got a chance to see it from about ten, 12 feet out and it looked great from where I was.

To see his reaction -- it happened right in front of me. He went right in front of me. He got excited and I looked over at Stricks and he was shaking his head. It was great.

And then on top of that, to see Izzy almost hole it right on top of him, it was a great family atmosphere at that one little hole.

Q. Didn't really ask this but yesterday meant to, after the Bahamas, what was your recovery like, and how did it compare to, say, after Riv last year which would have been really the last time it was similar.

TIGER WOODS: Very different. Riv, my ankle was not good at that time and the recovery was a lot more difficult. But we've been training every day. After the Bahamas, we were in the gym on Monday. So we have been going after it.

Q. Was it encouraging in any way? Were you concerned or accuse to see how it would be?

TIGER WOODS: The ankle was fine because it's now fused but other parts were definitely aching. But the fact that, you know, we were able to train right away and get after it, and start hitting balls, it was encouraging.

Q. On the schedule for next year, what you guys have done for the next however many years, how close to the finished product do you think that is in terms of the Signature events and in terms of Top-70, 50, 30, the whole system that's been put in place coming out of Delaware, how close do you think that is?

TIGER WOODS: For '24, we are pretty sound, and obviously I think we are going to make some adjustments, possible adjustments probably end of the year, however things shake out. But as far as the schedule for next year, we are lockstep. As far as some of the points things, we'll see how that shakes out, little things.

And granted, that happens each and every year.

Q. And secondly, I don't know that I have ever heard you talk about Bernhard, and God knows what he's done today with all the putts they are making. But for a guy at 65 to set the Senior Tour record, keep doing what he's doing at that age, how do you think he does it and does it impress you?

TIGER WOODS: It's more than amazing. The fact that he's able to, one, to do everything that he does with, I mean, his neck, his back and the way it's been over the years; the fact that he still does it each and every day, he works out each and every day, he's at it. That's what most people don't realize and that's how you have longevity. You train each and every day, and he does that.

What he's done consistently, I mean, I got a chance to play with him in '94 to go back that far. And to see what he's done since then, and what he does each and every year and what he's battled with on the greens, the different styles he keeps fighting through, it just goes to show the personality, the determination that he has and the type of person he is to be able to stick through everything.

Q. This would seem the ultimate formality, but you're not exempt for the U.S. Open. Do you know if you have to ask them? Do you have to formally ask them?

TIGER WOODS: That, I do not know. I don't know what's happened or what Jack, what happened over his career, or Tom or anybody else. But as of right now, no, I'm not in, and whether or not I have to formally ask them or they invite me, or you give me an exemption or I have to go qualify, you know, who knows. I don't know what the process is.

Q. Well, it would seem they are going to give you one, but I just wondered if you had to ask.

TIGER WOODS: That, I don't know, Bob.

Q. If you consider everything that's happened since the accident, competitive golf-wise, it's been about ten tournaments. Has there been a round or a cut made or a tournament that tells you, 'I can win again at the TOUR level'?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think that given the fact that if I'm able to practise and do the things that I know I can do, and prepare, I know that I can still do it. I can still hit the golf ball.

It's just a matter of prepping and get enough reps in and get enough work in and being right physically, and endurance capability of it. I haven't had the leg good enough where I've been able to compete and play a lot of rounds. I've had a lot of procedures over the years, and that's just part of it.

I know if I can practise, I know I can still do it. I can still hit the golf ball. I can still chip. I can still put. Granted it's also putting it all together for 72 holes. That's the challenging part of it.

Q. Back to the '94 Langer thing. What was that encounter?

TIGER WOODS: I played with him in the Johnnie Walker in Thailand, and I think I played with him on either Saturday or Sunday.

So I got a chance -- I got invited to play there when I was, what, I think it was 18, to play in my mom's home country, which was very special. I think that was the first cut I ever made in a professional event. Goes back that far.

Q. Your impressions of him then and how you see him now, what has changed?

TIGER WOODS: First time I've ever seen anyone work in meters. That was different for me. I grew up in southern California, and I was only 18, so I had not played a lot. Everyone is over here in yards. So it was very different to hear Pete, at that time, talking to a Bernie about some of the numbers, it was very different for me because I had not encountered it.