THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

November 9, 2003

Tiger Woods

Q. Was today's round kind of the theme for the week?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah you could say that. I think the theme for the week had to be number 16 there. Scotty and I were laughing about it, my putt lipped, not only did it lip out, but it hit a bee on the edge of the hole that kicked it out. So that kind of sums up the whole week for my putting this week.

Q. Is it frustrating not winning the money title after winning it so many years in a row?

TIGER WOODS: Not really. I didn't win in '98 and I didn't win in '96. So it's happened before in the past and I'm sure it will happen again.

Q. State your case to me for Player of the Year. Pretend you're running for school president. Tell me why I should vote for you as Player of the Year. State your case.

TIGER WOODS: I think number of wins. Not only the quality of tournaments that I won, but percentage of tournaments that I played in versus anybody, and my winning percentage, as well as my stroke average. I think going into this week I was second lowest of all time.

Q. Do you think if anybody else on TOUR had five wins and the Vardon Trophy, it wouldn't even be a contest? Do you think you're almost a victim of everybody's expectations?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah. Yeah.

Q. Four in a row, they figure you'll probably win it the next hundred years, so why not give it to the other guy?

TIGER WOODS: Well, certainly we all had a chance going into the week. That's the thing. If I would have won, Weir would have won, Vijay would have won, Davis would have won, any of us four would have won the tournament, it would have been -- they would have been Player of the Year, whoever won the tournament. But since we didn't, then it goes up in the air.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: I would be a little bit surprised, yes, considering the way I played and the year with two World Golf Championships in there, with my stroke average being as low as it is. And on top of that, never missing a cut.

Q. Did you get a little bit of bad karma with that tee shot on 10?

TIGER WOODS: No, man. I hit one of the worst tee shots you have ever seen on 9. So it didn't really matter. It was nice seeing Mr. President again. He's a great guy. I got to know him a little bit by hanging out here in Houston when I used to come down here when Butch was down here. I would see him occasionally and he could play fast, I tell you what. He's probably one of the fastest players you'll ever see.

Q. Talking about low stroke average this year -- and I know you like to get better every year -- what will you work on for next year?

TIGER WOODS: I've got to play two more tournaments -- my year is not over yet -- before I stop and evaluate. I know our official season is over, but I've still got two events where I need to play well in. And then I'll stop after my tournament in California and then I'll stop and evaluate what I need to do to improve.

Q. Is it a statistical thing you look at or is it more just feel inside yourself?

TIGER WOODS: It's both. Certainly both. Because a lot of it can be misleading. This year my putting stats are really solid. That's just because my greens in regulation are down. My birdies are still the same. I'm still averaging about the same amount of birdies I do every year. But when you're hitting less greens and doing it, of course your putting stats are going to look better.

Q. The cut streak, what does that mean to you in terms of your career?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's one of those things that I'm very proud of, because there's certainly times when I haven't been playing well enough to probably make a cut, but either through good fortune or hard work and fighting it out, I've been able to make the cuts. The way that the TOUR is now, as deep as it is, and between making the cut and first place, it's generally so close that you can actually still win the tournament. I did that in '98. I made the cut on the number and then won the tournament. So it's one of those things where there's so many guys that are bunched now than there ever used to be. So even if you just squeak in, if you put together a great weekend, you can still win the tournament.

Q. Are you at all surprised at what Chad Campbell's doing or was it just a matter of time?

TIGER WOODS: It was just a matter of time. We all knew that he had a lot of talent. If you watch him out here hitting golf balls, it's pretty impressive how solid he hits it.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: He did, he did. Yeah.

Q. Was that kind of your last two, those last two?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it was. It was down to ASU, UNLV and Stanford. And I decided not to go to ASU. But it was down to either I wanted to play golf or go to school. And I chose a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Stanford.

Q. Did you ever hear from Byron this week?

TIGER WOODS: No, I got asked that question earlier in the week. And actually they had two representatives from the Byron Nelson here, saying hello to everybody and hope you come play my tournament, everything, like they always do. And they sent Mr. Nelson's wishes of congratulations.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: I think it was overall a great year. It's certainly different than last year, because last year we had a numerous amount of first-time winners. This time we had a lot of guys winning multiple events. It certainly was a very exciting year because of that, guys winning, three, four, five tournaments, having the best years of their careers. And we also saw some great stories in Major championships too. And everyone that won a Major championship, that was their first Major. And probably the shot of the year was probably at the PGA this year by Shaun Micheel. That was some great golf and some fantastic things that happened throughout the entire year.

Q. (Inaudible.)

TIGER WOODS: The point system is obviously, it's non-biased. But it's also great to get the respect of your peers. Ultimately that's probably the biggest compliment you can get.

End of FastScripts.