TGL PLAYOFF FINALS PRESENTED BY SOFI: LOS ANGELES GOLF CLUB VS JUPITER LINKS GOLF CLUB

March 24, 2026

Tiger Woods

Max Homa

Tom Kim

SoFi Center

Jupiter Links Golf Club

Semifinals Press Conference

Tom Kim

Los Angeles GC 9, Jupiter Links GC 2

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Jupiter Links into the press conference room.

Q. Tiger, what made you guys accept the hammer on that last hole?

MAX HOMA: That was my bad. When we talked about it before, it felt like I had it understood in my head, because my math is bad, that we had to win the hole to keep the match going, and then -- I don't know, I was headless. Honestly, I have a lot of respect - this is not a joke - for NFL coaches and stuff because your brain goes everywhere, and when they threw it, I didn't really understand why they were throwing it. It was just a really dumb move on my part.

Q. Tiger, curious if Akshay was available to play this week how that would have impacted your decision to play or not tonight?

TIGER WOODS: He probably would have made that two-footer that I missed. But hey, Akshay was a hell of a teammate this year. He blended into the team seamlessly. We had a great time with all of his matches that he played. Obviously he has a commitment with Hero. That is his title sponsor. So he had to be over there, and he's doing what he has to do.

We had to hold down the fort, and unfortunately we didn't hold down the fort.

Q. How did you feel physically?

TIGER WOODS: Feels fine physically. It was just interesting the shots because usually you have more of a rhythm when you're actually playing a normal round of golf, hitting shots. Here it feels like I'm getting iced a bit at times.

It's just a different rhythm. It's like when you play Ryder Cup or Presidents Cups and you play in foursomes. Some matches you just don't hit a putt for like 10, 11 holes and all of a sudden you've got to make a three-footer. That's kind of what it feels like here.

I had a couple drives I had to hit and then a couple putts. It was just -- for me, it was different because I haven't really done this. I've been watching these guys do it. They make it look easy. I haven't done it in a while. It was a lot of fun, though, to be a part of it.

Q. Any closer decision to the Masters? Any decision on the Masters? Did anything tonight push you further away or closer to the Masters?

TIGER WOODS: As I said, I've been trying. Just this body is -- it doesn't recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn't mean I'm not trying. I've been trying for a while. I've had a couple bad injuries here over the past years that I've had to fight through and it's taken some time.

But I keep trying. I want to play. I love the tournament. I've loved being there since I was 19 years old. It's meant a lot to me and my family over the years. I'm going to be there either way with The Loop that's going up there, as well as the Champions Dinner.

Q. Do you think that decision will have to come right down to the Friday before?

TIGER WOODS: I don't know, we'll see how it goes. I'll be practicing, playing at home this week and keep trying to make progress.

Q. Speaking of the driver, we saw some shots clocked 175 miles an hour plus. How long has that been building up, and is there more in the tank?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, there's definitely more. I've never really struggled with ball speed. Ball direction is a different story. I've hit it left and right most of my life, hence my last name is Woods.

Hey, I've always had speed. That's always been something that I've fortunately been gifted with. Even as I've gotten older and with the body not quite what it used to be, I can still get it up there.

It's just that now everyone is living at that speed and higher. We were joking the other day that in '97 I averaged 296. That's like nothing now. I was No. 2 in driving distance behind Daly. Guys are hitting that with 3-woods.

Q. Can you tell us what you're doing, what you guys did at the Patch there in Augusta? Just fill us in on that.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, created a short course. We did Jim Dent Way. We have a First Tee center that's going to be built up there, as well. We've got some -- more the public course, as well as the range is still being built. Final opening, I think we'll kind of open up over time. But just overall, what we're doing there for the community, with my foundation, with another Learning Lab coming up there, Augusta National is incredible at building things, and when they decide to get behind something and build it, we were looking at our buildout and our timetable. They're moving very efficiently.

Q. What is your team's takeaway of the improvement you had from year one to year two?

MAX HOMA: We were last and now we're second. Only way is up.

TOM KIM: True.