It's Tuesday at the U.S. Open, meaning the competitors take some time to answer some questions from the Media. Tiger Woods was one of the first players on the docket, answering to a number of questions regarding his play, the Olympic Club and his fellow competitors as well.
Tiger has had success at a lot of other California courses such as Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach, though sees very little in comparison with this location to the other locales of his U.S. Open victories.
Q. You've always played very well at Pebble Beach. I wonder, do you think there aresimilarities between this course and PebbleBeach and how you might approach it? TIGER WOODS: Not at all. Not at all, no. They're two completely different golf courses. When we play Pebble, yeah, the fairways are somewhat canted a little, but not like this. This is different. And also, you know, having an extra par-5 helps. The wind tends to blow more than it does here. It does coming over the top of these trees and the clubhouse and coming down into the golf course, but it's different.
Q. Comparing Olympic to other U.S. Open courses, are there any particular skills or types of shots that you need here more thanother U.S. Open courses, like maybe curvingthe ball or something?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, you have to curve it more off the tees here than any other golf course that we play. Even to the greens, you've got right to left slopes of, let's say right to left slopes of fairways and greens, and you have to cut it, so you're going against the grain. It's the same thing on the flip side. That's the neat thing aboutthis golf course is it seems like the majority of the doglegs kind of run away from you. And it puts a big premium on shaping the ball. But also it puts a big premium on game planning, what you want to do, where you want to hit it. And being committed to that.
When asked about Phil Mickelson, whom Tiger will be partnered with during the first two rounds, Tiger admitted they likely won't be speaking much. Though their silence will be because of the task ahead of them, not any bad blood between them.
Q. You and Phil have been going upagainst each other for 16 years now. Will therebe any particular motivation being paired withhim on Thursday? What will you talk about outthere?
TIGER WOODS: I don't think we're going to talk about a lot. This is a Major championship. We've got work to do. Any extra motivation? No. I'm just trying to get out there and position myself for Sunday.This is a long grind. We're teeing off of No. 9, so we don't get to play obviously the first six holes until it's basically our back nine.
It's such a test playing in this championship. I think this is one of those championships that I think the guys talk the least to one another because it's so difficult.Every shot is there's no shot you can take off, so to speak. Sometimes say you're playing St. Andrews, and you go ahead and wail away, no big deal. But here there's such a premium on positioning the golf ball.
Tiger is still chasing his goal of topping Jack Nicklaus' major championship record, to which he believes will be a spectre over career until he does so.
I think even if I do win a Major championship, itwill still be, you're not to 18 yet, or whenwill you get to 19. It's always something with you guys. I've dealt with that my entire career, ever since I was an amateur and playing all the way through and to professional golf, it hasn't changed.
It's shaping up to be an exciting week at the Olympic Club.
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