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WORLD CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL


November 30, 2012


Tiger Woods


THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA

Q.  (Indiscernible).
TIGER WOODS:  Certainly hit the ball a lot better than I did yesterday.  Made a couple more putts.

Q.  The last time we saw you contend here you had one big match against Rory.  It's been about a month since you played competitive golf like this.  When you take that long of a layoff, what's the thing that comes back most quickly perhaps in your game?
TIGER WOODS:  My competitive instincts, for sure.  But I think it depends on how fast I get into a flow, how fast I kind the flow of the round.
This week I'm hitting the ball better.  At least I did today than yesterday.
My putting, my speed's been good.

Q.  So talk about the round today, the conditions, how were they?
TIGER WOODS:  Yeah, they were tricky because they were so soft.  The greens were so soft, and we had to hit so much club to try and take the spin off the ball.  And it was a bit tricky.
They were a little bit different pins.  They tried to get them on the high spots.  So it was tough.
But you know, all the par‑5s were reachable with good drives, and a couple of pins you could use slopes to get the ball close.  So look at the scores.  Quite a few guys shot in the 60s today.

Q.  You got on that run the start of the Back 9, and then you kind of weren't able to continue it, but talk a little bit about that.
TIGER WOODS:  Yeah.  I hit some nice iron shots in there.  I just got on a nice little groove hitting irons, and stuffed it at 9, stuffed it at 10, stuffed it at 11, stuffed it at 13.  So I didn't have difficult putts afterwards.

Q.  Did you control better today than yesterday?
TIGER WOODS:  Without a doubt.  I felt a lot better about my swing overall.
I had a decent warmup session, but the work I did last night was some of the best I've hit the golf ball all year.  That was a lot of fun.  I just had to come out here and trust it, and when I did, I got into a nice little run there.  I just need to do that all 36 holes on the weekend.

Q.  How often do you find (indiscernible)?
TIGER WOODS:  I guess it's with anybody.  You don't always play well.  And yesterday wasn't that great.  And as I said, that was one of the best range sessions I've had all year.  So I just need to go ahead and just do that.
It was in there.  I hit a lot of good shots starting out today.  Didn't really convert anything.  Then all of a sudden I got on a roll. 

Q.  (Indiscernible).
TIGER WOODS:  It's exciting to be able to do that.  I know it's in there.  I did it at home.  I just need to be able to do it more in competition.
I've had spurts when I've hit it really well and picked up one.  So I just need to do tomorrow.

Q.  Were you surprised at the number ‑‑ we've seen a trickle of Euros coming over and taking up membership lately.
TIGER WOODS:  I think some of the guys actually live here.  So I think even Martin was based in Scottsdale for a while.  I don't know if he still is or not.  But a lot of guys are based here.  And they play our tour semi full time, but they gotta go obviously and support the European Tour.  So it's not a real big stretch for them to start playing here more often.
And plus, the way it's set up, you can play kind of chunks at a time.  You can play a month here and a month there.  And the way the European Tour schedule is, they're in certain places for a little bit, so you can pick out chunks and then come over here and play.

Q.  Talk about the European Tour itself, in a little bit of an economic difficulty, in that they got so many guys that are probably as strong as they've ever been, as far as the players, not tour.
TIGER WOODS:  Obviously world economies are struggling in certain parts of the world.  I know they're going to South Africa more, going more in China.  I think Turkey is going to be included in there.  They're going to different places.  Just can't stick with some of the old places.  Some of these economies are just getting hammered.
They have the ability to do that.  Obviously the European Tour is not really a European Tour.  It's more of a world tour.  So they have that advantage.

Q.  (Indiscernible)?
TIGER WOODS:  That's incredible.  For him to go from where he was, obviously he's had some serious family difficulties and some obstacles he had to overcome, and he's turned all that around and now he's going to go major in physics.
So it's just a matter of giving these kids an opportunity.  And that's what this tournament is all about, our chance to help kids.  And Edgar is just one of over 100,000 people that we've helped.

Q.  Can you talk about your how determined you are to keep this tournament going forward?
TIGER WOODS:  Yeah.  This is what started it all for us.  If we didn't have this event, we wouldn't have the learning center here in Orange County.  It brought awareness to what we're trying to do for kids, and this is something my dad and I wanted to create, and we created it; and hence, we have this fantastic learning center.  And from there we've spread obviously on the East Coast.  So it's important for us to have the tournament.

Q.  Does something like that give you kind of a fresh take on staying focused on these tournaments?
TIGER WOODS:  We're going to be doing everything we can to keep the tournament going and keep all our programs going.  It's important to me to help these people and give these kids a chance.  This is a great awareness for us, on a pedestal and say, look at what we're doing, look at how we're helping kids.  Not just here in the United States.  Globally very soon.  It's very important for us.

Q.  If you can give it a title for next year, where does the tournament fit in terms of so many tournaments in the fall that have FedExCup points and this.  How do you think it'll affect things?
TIGER WOODS:  It certainly has helped us with having world ranking points.  I think we're going to have guys play because of that.  And if you get a lot of the top players playing, more of the top players want to play, because obviously the more ranking points they can get a nice little bump there, and last place money is not too bad.

Q.  Because you donate what you earn, is this one of the few tournaments you actually feel pressure playing for money?
TIGER WOODS:  You know, I've done it through all the tournaments we're affiliated with, the foundation, so it's kind of a running joke in the foundation.  You better win the tournament because we're kind of counting on this amount of donation.  So it's fun.  But it's all in good jest.

Q.  Are you guys flying up to the game tonight?
TIGER WOODS:  I thought about it, but instead I'm just going to go to my buddy's house and watch it.

Q.  (Indiscernible)?
TIGER WOODS:  No.  I'll be there.  I'll be going to the Rose Bowl.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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