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JULIUS MASON: Four-time PGA Champion Tiger Woods is joining us for the 104th PGA Championship.

Tiger, this is your 22nd PGA Championship, the last time you were here, you won here at Tulsa. Can you take us back to 2007 and just maybe share some of the memories you had that week?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it was obviously a very different golf course. It was not cold that week. I remember playing behind JD the first day, which was awesome. It was, what, 109 I think that first day? And I asked JD how many waters he drank out there, he said, “No, I had 13 Diet Cokes.”

It was a great week. Very different golf course. A lot of irons and like strange irons. You don’t normally hit a 6-iron off the tee on a par 4, and we did that week.

And they have lengthened it, changed it, and it will be a good test. I’m curious to see how much firmer it gets as the week goes on and this golf course is going to play what Kerry wants it.

JULIUS MASON: How is your body, how is your mind as you come to the second major of the year?

TIGER WOODS: It’s better than the last time I played a tournament, which is good. We’ve been working hard and again, I have days where it’s tough and you know, other days where we can push through it.

But we keep working at it.

Q. In the time between the PGA Championship and the Masters, were you able to keep ramping up the training or was there a post-Masters lull?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, there was a huge lull, Monday (smiling) that was it. That was it. Monday, it was not fun. It hurt. A ice baths and just trying to get the swelling out of there.

Then we went back at it, leg day on Tuesday and we kept going from there. Said, let’s go. Figured the first mountain you climbed was Everest. That’s the steepest golf course you’re going to play and that was the first one you climbed it, and climbed. It’s going to get flatter and better. But still, I still have tough days, and things aren’t going to be as easy as people might think.

But I feel like I’m doing better. I’m having more days in which are better, more positive. Able to practice a little bit longer. So I’m able to do activities and things that I was hoping to do, and I’m finally able to do them.

Q. What did you learn about your new body and maybe its limitations during that week at Augusta?

TIGER WOODS: (Chuckles) it was hurting but I pushed through it. It was more mind than body. I said, I’ve won with a broken leg before. Keep on going out there, keep pushing. I know how to play the golf course. If I can just putt well, you never know. Unfortunately Saturday, I think I had like 15 three-putts.

But it was one of those things, the thing that I was frustrated with is it deteriorated as the week went on. I got more and more tired and more fatigued. I didn’t have the endurance that I wanted. I mean, I shouldn’t expect it because I didn’t earn it. I didn’t go out there and I hadn’t done the work but we were able to put in a little bit more work and it’s going to get better as time goes on. As the months pass and it’s going to get better.

Q. What do you make of Phil not being here? Defending champion, great win last year that he had and here, with all that’s gone on, he’s not here. What are your thoughts?

TIGER WOODS: Well, Bob, it’s always disappointing when the defending champion not here. Phil has said some things that I think a lot of us who are committed to the TOUR and committed to the legacy of the TOUR have pushed back against, and he’s taken some personal time, and we all understand that.

But I think that some of his views on how the TOUR could be run, should be run, been a lot of disagreement there. But as we all know, as a professional, we miss him being out here. I mean, he’s a big draw for the game of golf. He’s just taking his time and we all wish him the best when he comes back.

Obviously we’re going to have difference of opinions, how he sees the TOUR, and we’ll go from there.

Q. Are you surprised at all it has escalated to the point that is it has, where he also missed the Masters, obviously, and we really don’t know what’s next.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it has ramped up very quickly, and I think we were talking about this, if this would have happened 30 years ago, 20 years ago, it wouldn’t have happened as fast. But social media has changed the landscape and how fast things can ramp up, whether it’s real news or fake news or whatever it is, opinions get out there instantly. It can sway very quickly one way or the other. What we are seeing right now in society, it’s very bipolar. There’s really no middle ground, you stand one way or the other. It’s very polarizing.

And the viewpoints that Phil has made with the TOUR and what the TOUR has meant to all of us has been polarizing as well.

Q. You told me a long time ago that you didn’t think golf defined who you are as a person, but I think the resilience you’ve shown in the last year does say a lot about you. How do you think what you’ve accomplished over the last year since the accident might inspire others?

TIGER WOODS: Well, every day is a challenge for all of us. We all have our own challenges in our own different way, right. You wake up to the new challenge, the new day, and you’ve just got to fight through it.

Some challenges are more difficult than others. It doesn’t mean that they are harder or easier than others. They are just different. Mine were different than some others. Some other people have been through much worse than I have. We have seen some pretty amazing — I have seen some pretty amazing things working with the military and what they have done and what they have come back from. Guys have lost limbs and have come back and requalified for Special Forces, and things like that are inspiring.

Yeah, I’m going to be sore. That’s okay but I can still get better.

Q. You’re going to hit more driver here more often than you did in 2007. There’s more short grass around the greens. Do you think this is a better test than one in 2007? Which would you prefer to play?

TIGER WOODS: Now? Given my body? Anything around 6,200 is great. It’s just different. It’s more faster, wide open. We saw how the seniors played it; a lot of balls were hitting and runs off to the sides, where that wasn’t the case when we played in ’07. It was catching in the rough.

But I think that some of the — for me, I think there’s more slope in some of these greens. Obviously there’s more waves in the fairways and hitting very different clubs off of tees. But still, it’s a challenge, and I said earlier, I think Kerry is going to set it up — I think he’s going to do a wonderful job setting it up. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be fair.

The rough is at a great length. It’s interesting because you can get a ball that comes out hot or you can get a ball that doesn’t come out at all. That’s the great guessing game of playing bermuda, and then with the surrounds being cut down how they are, there’s a lot more grain than we every had to deal with. There are going to be different shots. I’ve seen guys using hybrids, and I’ve seen guys use 3-woods, putts, wedges, 4-irons. You’ll see a lot of different things.

And then the forecast is going to be different every day in this wind. It’s supposed to be all different directions. We’re going to see a different golf course almost every day.

Q. You mentioned that you kind of lost endurance as the round at of the Masters went on. What have you learned about your body or recovery process since it’s going to be able to recover after the rounds and last longer into the tournament?

TIGER WOODS: My team did just an amazing job just to get me to a point where I could play the Masters and I was able to have that opportunity to play. Right after each round, it was like getting back to the house and we have an ice bath ready for you, and off you go, get on the treatment table and let’s keep working at it, keep things going and it was tough. It was hard. It was hard on all of us.

But I’ve gotten stronger since then. But still, it’s still going to be sore and walking is a challenge. I can hit golf balls, but the challenge is walking. It’s going to be that way for the foreseeable future for sure.

Q. With the Foundation, have you considered an event much like the one Bill Dickey used to put on, you remember him?

TIGER WOODS: Oh, yeah.

Q. That would benefit kids all over the country and give people a see a chance to see exactly what the Foundation is doing?

TIGER WOODS: See, we have gotten away from golf-based event. We’ve had fund-raisers that are golf-based events, but our foundation is not based in golf. Our fund-raising is based in golf but our program is based in STEM. So we focus on STEM, getting kids into STEM programs, in a variety of different STEM programs.

But yes, we use golf as a fund-raiser but we are not here to produce professional golfers. We’re here to give under-served kids better chances in life, and I think that’s more important.

Q. How close are you physically now to being as good as it’s going to get based on your injuries?

TIGER WOODS: I don’t know. That’s a great question. I don’t know. There’s going to be limitations. There’s a lot of hardware in there and there’s going to be limitations to what I’m going to be able to do, but I’m going to get stronger. I don’t know how much that is or how much range of motion I’ll ever get back. But sure is a hell of a lot better than it was 12 months ago.

Q. You mentioned all the changes to the golf course. One, do you like those changes, and two, your winning score is 8-under in 2007. Do you envision is being similar? All of the guys mentioned it’s playing tougher then. Do you envision that score maybe being lower?

TIGER WOODS: I think it all depends on where Kerry puts the pins. When I watched the seniors play, there was a lot of balls running off the sides, a lot of chip shots.

But we are getting these young kids hitting the ball high and far. You know, a couple of the par 5s are, what, 630, and guys are knocking it on there in two, some of the guys. Depends on the wind, obviously.

But guys have a lot more power than what we did in ’07. Look at what we did on the range? We can’t use the top end of the range anymore because guys are hitting it down to the bottom. The game has changed a lot and because the game has changed a lot, Gil has done a fantastic job of altering the golf course.

It has a lot more shot options, that’s for sure, and we are going to be tested around the greens a lot. A lot of grain, a lot of creativity, but it still puts a premium in putting the ball in play and in the fairway and somehow below the holes in the right spots. As I said, there’s still a lot of slope on some of these greens, a lot of pitch. But it is kind of nice to see 9 and 18 not cut at a different speed.

Q. How confident are you that you can contend this week and do you feel like you can win this week?

TIGER WOODS: I feel like I can, definitely. I just have to go out there and do it. I have to do my work. Starts on Thursday and I’ll be ready.

Q. You mentioned your putting at Augusta, particularly that Saturday didn’t go the way you wanted it to. Did you feel like with your physical limitations you’re able to practice enough with the putter to get that club back to a championship level?

TIGER WOODS: No. As far as practicing a lot, no, I don’t do that anymore. Bending over, hitting a bunch of putts like I used to, that doesn’t happen, not with my back the way it is. I have to pick my spots and do my work and get in and get out. I can do different sessions.

I have a great complex in the backyard that I can do different times throughout the day and do like a 20-minute segment here, a 20-minute segment there, another 20-minute segment later on in the evening. I can break it up and do it that way instead of putting for two or three hours in a row like I used to. I just have to do it differently.

Q. You said to Bob, a disagreement with a lot of what Phil has said. From your view, how does he resolve that disagreement or does he have to resolve that disagreement? What do you think?

TIGER WOODS: I don’t know if he has to resolve it or not. You know, he has his opinion on where he sees the game of golf going. You know, I have my viewpoint how I see the game of golf, and I’ve supported the TOUR and my foundation has run events on the TOUR for a number of years.

I just think that what Jack and Arnold have done in starting the TOUR and breaking away from the PGA of America and creating our tour in ’68 or ’69, somewhere in there, I just think there’s a legacy to that. I’ve been playing out here for a couple of years over decades, and I think there’s a legacy do it. I still think that the TOUR has so much to offer, so much opportunity.

Yes, it is, and I understand different viewpoints, but I believe in legacies. I believe in major championships. I believe in big events, comparisons to historical figures of the past. There’s plenty of money out here. The TOUR is growing. But it’s just like any other sport. It’s like tennis. You have to go out there and earn it. You’ve got to go out there and play for it. We have opportunity to go ahead and do it. It’s just not guaranteed up front.

Q. With your event, you have rights fees that you play to the TOUR in some form or another. Do you think Phil, because he had not done events before some of these matches and whatnot, do you think he just didn’t understand the rights fees and how they work?

TIGER WOODS: I can’t speak for him not knowing and understanding that. I’m sure he probably does have an understanding of that because he was the host of the old Bob Hope. So since he was the host of the event, I’m sure he probably understands it, and plus, he hosts the event up there in Napa Valley.

He understands it, and there is — there is a rights fee to having events and understanding it. And we negotiate with the TOUR and whether it’s one-off day events like we have with matches under the lights like I used to do back in the old days, or it’s regular TOUR events, each tournament is different. Obviously there is right fees that have to be paid, and we understand that.

Obviously we go in there as events and try and negotiate that down as low as possible, and try and make as much money as we can for the local events.

Q. And the fees go back to the TOUR players; correct?

TIGER WOODS: Correct.

Q. That’s where they go?

TIGER WOODS: Correct.

Q. From the outside, it didn’t appear, especially based on what was known about your injuries that the Masters was possible and maybe not even this tournament several months ago. When did you make the determination or set the goal to come back, and at what point did you think, wow, there’s a realistic chance I can do it?

TIGER WOODS: Well, when I went up and did the scouting trip with J.T., Rob and Charlie and was able to play, we played all 18 and then went over and played the par 3 course.

Yeah, I did it, but man, it hurt for a couple days. But I was able to do it, and maybe I could work my way into it somehow and just kept pushing and kept hoping that I could somehow figure out a way. I mean, I have to endure some uncomfortableness. But it was — even that week as I played practice rounds, I was still trying to figure out, you know, can I do this over 72 holes, and I was able to do it. Unfortunately I just didn’t have the endurance or the stamina and wished I would have putted better so I would have given myself a chance.

I just think that I’ve put in a lot of hard work with my team, and I believe in them and what they have been able to get me to do. I just have to go out there and obviously do it and hit the golf shots.

Now, I’ve had to alter my golf swing here and there and practice sessions and work on things, and I’ve had to do a lot of shadow swinging in front of mirrors because I’m just not able to handle impact, but I’ve gotten better and stronger since then, and will continue to improve.

Q. Two unrelated questions. Obviously when we have spoken to you over the years, it’s about the result and winning and whatnot. But when you step back and look at getting through 72 holes at Augusta, how much of an accomplishment and did you feel some accomplishment out of that when you got home, even though the result wasn’t what you wanted?

TIGER WOODS: I hear ya. Everyone around me was very happy and ecstatic that I got around all 72 holes. I did not see it that way on Monday. I was a little ticked I didn’t putt well, and felt like I was hitting it good enough and I wish I had the stamina.

You know, it’s a normal, typical golfer, the what ifs, if I would have done this, I would have done that, would have done this.

But taking a step back and looking at the overall big picture of it, it was an accomplishment. But that other side of me that says if I would have done things differently, I could have challenged for that thing. And I know that golf course, and I just — maybe next year will be different.

Q. One on Phil. Sometimes you’ve endured some difficult times over the years. Phil has publicly and privately reached out to you. Curious if you had tried to reach out to him, spoken to him and if you felt compelled to reach out to him at all?

TIGER WOODS: I have not reached out to him. I have not spoken to him. A lot of it has not to do with I think personal issues. It was our viewpoints of how the TOUR should be run and could be run, and what players are playing for and how we are playing for it. I have a completely different stance on, and so no, I have not.

Q. More personally, obviously not going through a very good time —

TIGER WOODS: I don’t know what he’s going through. But I know the comments he made about the TOUR and the way that it should be run, it could be run; it could be run differently and all the different financials that could have happened, I just have a very different opinion on that. And so no, I have not reached out to him.

Q. I had something else, but I wanted to follow up on that. What do you think the TOUR needs to be doing better?

TIGER WOODS: Well, they are obviously trying to give what the top players have –obviously the top players have carried the Tour for a number of years, whether it’s back with Jack, Arnold and Gary or other eras, you know, the top players have carried the tours.

The PIP program or however we are ever going to do something like that going forward, what the incentives are, it’s trying to take care of the players that have obviously done a lot for the TOUR. I think that programs like that will probably alter it a bit going forward and how — how we are able to promote the TOUR.

I mean, the top players are use — that’s one of the things that we have got into arguments, I have, with Jay or Tim over the years is, you know, how we are marketed and used in events that we are not even playing in. So that in itself is an issue right there.

And that stems from conversations I’ve had privately with those guys and shared my viewpoint, and how the top players are rewarded for what they do, not just on the golf course but how they are able to bring so much attention and awareness to our sport, whether it’s through all the different streaming or TV, or the different ways you can view golf. We have our now future groups which we never had before. There’s a reason why they are future groups. I think those guys should get rewarded somehow.

Q. We have a club pro in the field, Wyatt Worthington, only the second Black club pro to play in the PGA, and you probably gave him a lesson at first tee 20 years ago. I don’t expect you to remember that.

TIGER WOODS: I don’t remember, but yeah, I’ve heard the story, yes.

Q. Curious, the progress that’s been made at a very slow rate, what is keeping it so slow? It’s not a new story but is it access, is it funding? What do you see as keeping golf back from getting more opportunities like Wyatt has this week?

TIGER WOODS: Well, if you look at — if you want to go the club pro route, that’s one story. If you want to go minority access or — not access, introduction to the game of golf, I think that has changed quite a bit, and the reason why, I have said this my entire career, it’s the advent of the golf cart, summers.

Used to be the caddies were predominantly non-White and they were introduced to the came through the caddie programs around the country. That doesn’t happen anymore. There are clubs that have caddies but there are not as many anymore with the advent of the golf cart.

Other sports are starting to get these athletes, and the introduction to golf is not happening at a youthful age, and the costs of not just the introduction, but just the maintenance and trying to participate in the game of golf, like I said this at the Hall of Fame is that my parents had to take out a second mortgage for me to be able just to compete at a junior golf level.

It’s tough. It’s tough on families that don’t have the funds to do it. Yes, access is a tough thing, and the USGA has done an amazing job. The TOUR is trying to do a great job there are other organizations that try and do amazing stuff to try to get more minority youth involved in the game and introduced. But how do you sustain that? That’s the hard part is how do you keep them in there for years at a time.

And then you look at the pyramid effect. The more you go up, the harder the competition and the more kids are going to be dropped.

JULIUS MASON: Good luck this week, Tiger. Tiger is playing with Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth at 8:11 a.m. on Thursday.

(Text curtesy of ASAP Sports)

The Amundi Evian Championship Continues to Assert its Ambition to Promote Parity in Sport, Increases its Prize Purse to $6.5 Million

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (May 17, 2022) – The Amundi Evian Championship, one of the five major tournaments in women’s golf and the only one on the European continent on either the men’s or women’s tours, reveals the high points of the 2022 event, to be hosted once again on the major championship course at Evian Resort Golf Club from July 21-24. With an increase in prize money to $6.5 million USD, the major championship will offer a $1 million prize for the winner – a symbolic marker in women’s sport – with the remainder distributed to the entire field.

Amundi Evian Championship Increases purse

Since its creation in 1994, The Amundi Evian Championship has continually asserted its ambition to promote women’s performance in sport and take part in growing women’s golf.

This is behind the momentum to increase the prize money, to which the tournament has been committed for many years, thanks to the support of its Sponsors Club, led by Amundi, Rolex, Danone and Evian. This movement is also shared by the leading women’s tournaments around the world. Indeed, the LPGA Tour, led by Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, has assembled a record prize fund of more than $90 million for the 2022 season.

“We are incredibly appreciative of our friends and partners at The Amundi Evian Championship for their ongoing support of the LPGA Tour and the world’s best female golfers,” said Marcoux Samaan. “Elevating the purse of this major championship makes a powerful statement about the value and status of the women’s game and the strong commitment of Amundi, Danone, Evian and Rolex to advancing the LPGA and our world-class athletes. We look forward to a spectacular week in Evian-les-Bains and I know that our players will share my gratitude and excitement.”

Beyond rewarding its winner with a record check, The Amundi Evian Championship will also extend the distribution of the prize purse to all tournament competitors. Players who do not make the cut will receive unofficial earnings.

(Text: LPGA Tour)

Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit leads the $1million Aramco Team Series – Bangkok by one after an opening round six-under-par at Thai Country Club.

The world #13 made the most of home advantage to finish one above Spanish starlet Ana Pelaez going into Friday’s second round.

Team Hillier, captained by Australia’s Whitney Hillier and featuring Chonlada Chayanun – playing her home course – Krista Bakker of Finland, and amateur Pattanan Amatanon lead at the halfway point in the tournament’s fourball format, after carding a day’s low of -16.

“It was really fun,” said Tavatanakit, the 2021 LPGA Rookie of the Year. “I kept my round going well. The team format is a little different. Being able to play with everyone at the same time and make birdies, cheering them on, it’s a really good feeling.

“It’s a format that relaxes you. I was really calm today and I felt like mistakes were fine, because I had other people there [to support] as well.”

Instead of opting for the player hotel, Tavatanakit is staying with her family in Bangkok this week – and has a friend from home, Dan, on her bag.

Asked if being one of the hometown heroes brought with it an extra level of playing pressure, the 22-year-old added: “I want to do well everywhere I play. I treat every week just like a normal event regardless of where I am, so I’m just here to play another tournament. 

“Today, I read the greens really well. I was surprised actually that I didn’t really get more right reads or right breaks on the practice rounds, but today I think I was a little bit more focused and Dan really helped me.”

Breakout Spanish star Ana Pelaez sits one back after a quite remarkable opening day bogey-free 67.

The 24-year-old only arrived in the Thai capital on Tuesday night after securing a late entry to the $1million event following her shock six-stroke victory at the Madrid Ladies Open.

With storms delaying her Wednesday’s afternoon practice, Pelaez – who drove for five hours, then took three flights over 24 hours to reach Bangkok – arrived at Thai Country Club this morning having only played its front nine holes and walking the fairways of holes 10 through 13.

That night, she used Google Earth to see what she was up against on the course’s closing five holes. Today, she finished birdie-birdie-birdie for an astonishing five-under-par.

“Honestly, I’m actually speechless,” said Pelaez. “I had a great round. I had a lot of fun. I had to be patient because I started par, par, par, birdie, par, birdie – then I didn’t get another birdie until hole 16. And then I finished with three in a row, so I’m extremely happy. A boost of confidence for tomorrow actually.

“I’m just happy we were able to get everything in place and that I’m here. I cannot believe I’m actually awake after traveling so much and all the emotions. I should be wasted, but I’m good!”

Team Whitney Hillier hold their own one-shot advantage going into what will be the closing day of the Aramco Team Series – Bangkok’s $500,000 team competition.

Their 16-under total was enough to give them a slender advantage heading into Friday’s deciding final round. 

“We just made birdies early,” said Australian Whitney, who is half-Thai. “We had a good vibe and everyone was gelling pretty well – everyone was laughing and happy. So, yeah, good team. We played well.”

Team Simmermacher – Magdalena Simmermacher (ARG), Charlotte Liautier (FRA), Isabella Deilert (SWE) and amateur Sirapob Yapala – sit on 15-under-par, one ahead of the teams captained by Scotland’s Kylie Henry and Patty Tavatanakit.

The Aramco Team Series – Bangkok continues tomorrow, with the final day of its team format and the second of three rounds in its $500,000 individual competition.

Finally it is official, Tiger Woods will compete this year at the US Masters 2022. In the press conference on 05.04.2022 he confirms what many have wished for and some have already suspected. But Tiger goes even further and even does not exclude a possible victory. In the interview, the golf legend also talks about the difficult path to the Masters and how he was able to take this incredible step, only 14 months after his accident.

Tiger Woods Interview at the US Masters 2022

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. It’s a pleasure to see all of you here today, and it is a very special pleasure to welcome back to our media center our five-time Masters champion and the most recent inductee to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Tiger, it is great seeing you, and we appreciate the time you’re spending with us today.

TIGER WOODS: Thank you, Rob. It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since I won here, but it’s great to be back and be able to feel the energy and the excitement of the patrons again. I hadn’t seen them since when I won, and obviously we had a COVID year and I missed last year. So it was neat to feel that energy out there on the golf course yesterday.

Hopefully this storm blows out of here, and we get to have a great week.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We join in celebrating your 25th anniversary of your first win because it was a transformational win and it changed forever the world of golf. So looking back is quite special.

TIGER WOODS: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Last year at the 2021 tournament, all of us missed Tiger Woods greatly, and you and your family were in our thoughts and prayers for the next 14 months hoping for a complete and total recovery. It is great seeing you here today.

Q. Hi, Tiger. Are you surprised at all where you are right now physically? I think a lot of people are surprised that you’re here and giving it a try. How about you?

TIGER WOODS: I’ve worked hard. My team has been unbelievable. I’ve been lucky to have great surgeons and great PTs and physios that have worked on me virtually every day. We’ve worked hard to get to this point, to get to this opportunity to walk the grounds, test it out, and see if I can do this.

It’s been a tough, tough year and a lot of stuff that I had to deal with that I don’t wish on anyone, but here we are, Masters week. Being able to play and practice — for me, more importantly, just to say thank you to all the guys that have texted me, FaceTimed me, and called me and given me all their support, to see them in person and to say thank you has meant a lot.

US Masters 2022 with Tiger Woods? It’s a yes!

Q. Tiger, when will you decide whether you can play and what determines that?

TIGER WOODS: Well, as of right now, I feel like I am going to play, as of right now. I’m going to play nine more holes tomorrow. My recovery has been good. I’ve been very excited about how I’ve recovered each and every day, and that’s been the challenge. That’s why I came up here and tested it out for 27 holes because we play the par-3 course. Charlie couldn’t help himself. I was able to play 27 holes that day and at home testing it.

But it’s the recovery. How am I going to get all the swelling out and recover for the next day. My team has been fantastic and worked very hard. So we’ve got another day of nine more holes and then come game time.

Q. How much physical pain do you have to endure playing golf?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, there is. There is each and every day. Obviously given what I’ve gone through with my back and obviously with my right leg. Yeah, there is each and every day.

Q. How much does that take away from your ability to play, or have you just mentally overcome it or have to overcome it every time you play?

TIGER WOODS: It’s been one of those things where I’ve had to endure pain before. This is different obviously. This is a lot more traumatic, what has transpired to my leg. We’ve had to put a lot of work. As I said, I’m very thankful to my surgeons and my PTs and physios that have worked on me and have given me this opportunity to play golf.

Q. Tiger, just go back to Sunday, 2019 for a minute. You’ve got 12 right behind you, made an incredible par there. It started to rain a little bit. You go to 13 tee. Your foot, it looked like you were trying to hit a cut shot, I’m not sure. Your foot slipped a little bit, and then your ball winds up in the middle of the fairway. I wonder if you ever got to see what the ball actually did?

TIGER WOODS: No, I didn’t. Jeff sets it up every year, and he moves that tee over maybe another step. There’s nowhere else to go. So everyone who has played there has teed off virtually from the same spot. It’s like digging into a batter’s box. And it’s sandy there. There’s really very little light that gets back in that area. So the grass is never as pristine as it is anywhere else on the golf course, and we’re all hitting from the same spot.

It’s not uncommon to see guys slip there, and I did. I slipped, and I hit it off the toe and hit a toe draw right around the corner.

Q. Draw? It didn’t go over the trees?

TIGER WOODS: No, I had a toe draw.

Q. How agonizing has it been just making the decision for you? Just talking about just the decision-making process.

TIGER WOODS: It’s just a matter of what my body’s able to do the next day and the recovery. That’s the hard part. Yes, we push it and try and recover the best we possibly can that night and see how it is the next morning. Then all the activations and going through that whole process again, and you warm it up, and then you warm it back down, or test it out, and then you’ve got to cool it back down. Then you’ve got to do that day in and day out.

It gets agonizing and teasing because of simple things that I would normally just go do that would take now a couple hours here and a couple hours there to prep and then wind down. So activity time to do what I want to do, it adds more time on both sides of it pre and post.

So that has been — it’s not like something I haven’t done, but the times have gotten longer on both sides.

Q. Tiger, you’ve said countless times throughout your career that you don’t enter a golf tournament unless you think you can win it. So the question is simple. Do you think you can win the Masters this week?

TIGER WOODS: I do.

Q. And what have you seen in your preparation that leads you to believe that?

TIGER WOODS: I can hit it just fine. I don’t have any qualms about what I can do physically from a golf standpoint. It’s now walking is the hard part. This is normally not an easy walk to begin with. Now given the conditions that my leg is in, it gets even more difficult.

You know, 72 holes is a long road, and it’s going to be a tough challenge and a challenge that I’m up for.

Q. Tiger, just on that topic, what part of the golf course is most difficult in terms of walking? Do you worry about slippage? Just also your assessment in the changes in the golf course.

TIGER WOODS: I don’t worry about slipping. I’ve got metals in, so I don’t have to worry about that. Even with the rain, it doesn’t really concern me.

Some of the changes are — some of them more drastic than others. Others are very subtle. Resurfacing on 3, but they’ve resurfaced every green since I’ve been here.

What they did on 11 is interesting, just from the standpoint that we’re further back, and then we thought the Larry Mize shot is gone, now it’s really gone with them raising the green up even more on the right-hand side, and we’re further back so we’re more prone to hit the ball over there anyways. So it’s a harder and more difficult pitch.

Other than that, the softening of 13. I understand it, trying to add a couple new pins, which they tend to do here. Over the years I’ve never seen them take away pins. They always added to areas in which they could grow more pins and more hole locations options for the committee to give us as a challenge. But I’ve never seen them take away pins. So 13 kind of fits into what their philosophy has been here.

Q. From that day early last year to this day, and this of all weeks, when you reflect on all you’ve been through, on all you’ve overcome, what words do you choose today to now reflect on these 14 months?

TIGER WOODS: Thankful. Yeah, very, very thankful. Thankful for just everyone’s support, everyone who’s been involved in my process of the work that I’ve put in each and every day, the people I work with, my whole team. And just as I was alluding to, all the support from the players out here.

We’re a big fraternity. The amount of texts and FaceTimes and calls I’ve gotten over the past year have meant a lot. To see some of the guys at home, whether I’ve been out at Medalist, out there playing, to see them again, or to see them yesterday in person and say thanks. I saw a few of them at the Hall of Fame induction.

I’m sure as the week goes on I’ll see more of them. So it’s been great. Tonight is the night of all nights to see all the guys again and listen to all the chiding and the stuff that I can’t ever repeat here and we don’t ever repeat, but the fact of what we’re able to say to each other is just awesome.

Q. If someone had told you in the first few days or weeks after your accident that you would be able to compete in this Masters with the expectation of winning it, what would you have said or thought?

TIGER WOODS: Well, at that time I was still in a hospital bed, and I was out for the next three months. I never left that hospital bed even to see my living room for three months. So that was a tough road. To finally get out of that where I wasn’t in a wheelchair or crutches and walking and still had more surgeries ahead of me, to say that I was going to be here playing and talking to you guys again, it would have been very unlikely.

Q. Tiger, what do the shoes that you’re wearing now give you that the shoes that you were wearing before don’t?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I have very limited mobility now. Just with the rods and plates and screws that are in my leg, I needed something different, something that allowed me to be more stable. That’s what I’ve gone to.

Nike’s been fantastic over the years of providing me with equipment and work, and we have worked, we’ve been working on trying to find something to allow me to do this and swing again. We’re still going to continue doing it, and hopefully we’ll have something soon.

Q. Tiger, you spoke in the Bahamas in November about being at peace with what the future held because you came back, you won here, you scaled that mountain. What’s been the main motivation to do that again, to put yourself through it all again?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I love competing, and I feel like if I can still compete at the highest level, I’m going to, and if I feel like I can still win, I’m going to play. But if I feel like I can’t, then you won’t see me out here. You guys know me better than that.

As Dee asked earlier, I don’t show up to an event unless I think I can win it. So that’s the attitude I’ve had. There will be a day when it won’t happen, and I’ll know when that is, but physically the challenge this week is I don’t have to worry about the ball striking or the game of golf, it’s actually just the hills out here. That’s going to be the challenge, and it’s going to be a challenge of a major marathon.

Q. Are there any particular weather conditions that would make it more difficult for you to decide to play?

TIGER WOODS: Oh, kind of just in general with my body, anytime it’s cold, it doesn’t feel very good. I think anyone who’s in this room who’s older than me can probably attest to that (Laughter).

Q. I just want to follow up on this notion of your rehab process. If you hadn’t been able to go, would you be satisfied with your career here and your career in general? And how much of that idea, I’ve still got work to do here, was fueling the rehab process?

TIGER WOODS: No, I feel like I could — if everything went well — my surgeons gave me a chance, and then my PTs and with my surgeons, they all said that I could do this again. Now, it’s up to me to endure the pain and all that, but I felt like I could still do this. I don’t know how many more years I can do this.

I was very fortunate to have come back at the end of ’17 when I did because I didn’t know if I could still do it again at that time, but again, my surgeons gave me an opportunity and my PTs did the same. This is kind of the same scenario but a little bit more severe than it was back then.

Q. But if you couldn’t have, would you have been satisfied to say —

TIGER WOODS: Yes, I would have. I think 82 is a pretty good number, and 15’s not too bad either.

Q. Tiger, when you were here last week, would that have been your first time back since the 2020 Masters?

TIGER WOODS: Yes, that was. It was, yes.

Q. So given all you’ve been through, was it at all emotional coming here even on a practice day? And how much did having Charlie play with you add to the whole experience?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it meant a lot to both of us. He had a chance to play right before the ’20 Masters, and he’s grown a lot since then, become a lot better player. So it was fun to see the changes in him, and for us as a family to go out here and have Robbie out here and J.T., who’s like my younger brother and Charlie’s older brother, for us to come out here and just play together, we just had a blast.

Couldn’t ask for a better day temperature-wise. It was just a perfect day. It was fun for me as a parent to see him enjoy it. And then just trying to remind him, these putts break a little more than they do back home. Florida greens are not quite like Augusta.

So a couple of the putts, it was pretty funny, he says, Just outside left? I said, No, it’s more like three feet outside left.

So we had a great time. Like I said, it was a blast. For me to have that opportunity again, as Ian was asking earlier whether or not a year ago would I have said yes to that, it was a totally different scenario.

Q. Would it be easier for you to go out early Thursday and later on Friday than vice versa in terms of recovery? Secondly, you’ve been used to adulation throughout your career, and understandably so. Have you ever felt the sense of warmth and reverence you got on that practice round yesterday? Because it seemed to be remarkable the outpouring of warmth in your direction.

TIGER WOODS: As I said earlier, the last time I’d had patrons out here was on that Sunday when I won, and it felt a little bit like that. Not quite as frenzied as that was. That was a little bit different. That was on a Sunday of a championship Sunday.

But yesterday was incredible. Everyone loves Freddie. That’s why they all came out (Laughter).

Q. Tiger, what do the doctors tell you about moving forward? Is this as good as you’re going to feel, or will it get better?

TIGER WOODS: My movement probably will not get much better. Will I feel better? Yes, I will. I’m going to get stronger, and the whole limb will get stronger. But as far as movement, probably not much more. I’m so limited with the hardware in there, I won’t get much more.

Q. Tiger, when you came back from the spinal fusion, you were asked and you would respond about Ben Hogan and the severity of what he went through after his crash. Are you drawing any inspiration now from his story given that, like you, his problem really wasn’t ball striking but just surviving the walk?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, what he went through pre — obviously, he didn’t have the technology that we have now, but the amount of hot tubs that he would have to take pre-round, post-round, in the middle of the night, just to be able to get up and swing a club the next day, I certainly appreciate that.

The treatments have gotten so much better, and I’m very thankful for that because, if the treatments hadn’t gotten any — if I had to go through with my accident, given what had happened to me, during his era, I wouldn’t be playing this week, that’s for sure.

Q. Tiger, given your leg, what are the more troublesome lies for you? Are they uphill, downhill, or side hill?

TIGER WOODS: All (Laughter).

Q. Are there certain parts of some fairways that you might try to avoid that you maybe wouldn’t have thought about a few years ago?

TIGER WOODS: No, if I’m in a fairway, it’s all good. The only flat spots out here are the 18 tee boxes. Other than that, there’s nothing flat about this place.

If I have to worry about it being in 14 fairways, I’ll take that any day.

Q. I know you’re here feeling you can win, but given the challenges you have with your body and the competitive arena and now these new ones and the challenges you have overcome, how do you define a successful week here at the Masters?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think that the fact that I was able to get myself here to this point is a success, and now that I am playing, now that everything is focused on how do I get myself into the position where I’m on that back nine on Sunday with a chance? Just like I did a few years ago.

Q. Two real quick if you don’t mind. Do you have a personal tradition unlike any other here? And if this place were flat, would your decision be a lot easier?

TIGER WOODS: Any traditions? I don’t know how to answer that one. I’ve been coming here since ’95. As far as a flat golf course, if it was back home at Medalist, it would have been a helluva lot easier, yes.

Q. Billy Horschel talked about saying you wanted to walk away. Getting here and getting yourself to this position was all about walking away on your own terms. Has that been a bit of motivation for you to compete and possibly win at Augusta?

TIGER WOODS: It has. When I decide to hang it up when I feel like I can’t win anymore, then that will be it. But I feel like I can still do it, and I feel like I still have the hands to do it, the body’s moving good enough. I’ve been in worse situations and played and won tournaments. Now, I haven’t been in situations like this where I’ve had to walk and endure what I’m going to try and endure, that’s going to be different. It’s a different challenge.

But my back surgeries that I’ve had before and the stuff I had to play through, even going back to the U.S. Open when my leg was a little bit busted, those are all times that I can draw upon where I was successful, how I’ve learned to block things out and focus on what I need to focus on. That’s certainly going to be the challenge this week.

THE MODERATOR: Tiger, no matter what your decision is, it has been a joy to have you back at Augusta and best of luck to you.

TIGER WOODS: Thank you.